


Krye

by Kan13



Series: NANO 2020 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:06:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27647255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kan13/pseuds/Kan13
Summary: Lotor finds Lance and returns him to the team. Lance doesn't remember much and somehow he's a lot better at...everything?
Relationships: just shipping fodder
Series: NANO 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994755
Comments: 17
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

Lance opened his eyes to darkness.

His head felt super weird. 

Then the memories came rushing back. The cube, the boredom, the endless hours of reality TV…But it was dark?

He sat bolt upright and jumped when someone cried out.

A small blue light lit the room and Lance turned to see everyone next to his bed.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?” he said and grinned, “see? I knew you guys could get me out!”

He rubbed his eye and blinked a few times as he turned to put his feet on the ground.

“You did it! You got me out of that stupid cube!” He rubbed his eye again, “I knew you could! Gosh, it was so boring! LOOK! I have goose bumps! I’m cold! I’ve never been glad to be cold before!”

He laughed and rubbed his eye again, “But what the heck! Why is everyone here?”

He looked around and blinked, “and what the heck is wrong with my eye?”

He rubbed it again, but this time he stopped. His fingers finding the raised scar tissue leading away from his left eye. There were many of them, as if it had been struck by lightning. 

“Lance…don’t you remember…being down loaded?”

“Nope,” Lance felt more of his face, a now shaky smile on it, “the last thing I remember is the episode of the Bachelorette where Mwavik and that Karen chick team up against Jeviv who-“

“Lance,” Shiro cut in, “You don’t remember anything at all?”

“I’m telling you I don’t remember anything other than what I’ve watched for who knows how long! And is someone going to tell me what happened to my eye? I mean, if it’s the cost of being downloaded by you guys then that’s fine, I don’t care so long as I can feel again, and talk to real people, and-“

“Lance,” Hunk bit his lip and Pidge had to finish.

“We…we weren’t the ones who downloaded you…”

“You’re been a galra captive for the last two and a half years…at least,” Keith said ripping it off like a bandaid. The others glaired at him, but he shrugged.

“Oooohh,” Lance also bit his lip, “I see…well…this is awkward…”

He couldn’t help but say it out loud. According to him, he’d been talking aloud to himself until very recently. 

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?” Shiro said.

“Sure as I’m sitting here- oh my gosh, Hunk, don’t cry!”

Hunk sat by the bed and broke down, “We…we weren’t fast enough…”

Lance got up and sat himself down next to his long time friend, “There, there, big guy, I’m right here, right? That fact alone means you guys found me and saved me and-“

Hunk cried harder and even Pidge started to cry. Lance panicked as he pulled Pidge in with one arm while the other tried to console Hunk.

“Common you guys,” Lance looked up at Shiro who looked close to tears himself. Allura and Coran looked like their favorite dog just died and Keith looked angry.

But Keith always looked like that.

“Lotor was the one who found you,” Allura said as gently as possible, “when we realized you might still be alive we looked for you as much as we could, but it was lotor who found you and saved you.”

“Loto-who is Lotor?” Lance asked, nonplused, “You guys forget, I’m so out of the loop here its not even funny.”

But then he laughed.

“Guys, guys! I’m fine! A little messed up, but alive! I’ll be just fine! Promise! I’ll be in your ear telling stupid jokes and making puns in no time!”

“Hunk recovered from crying remarkably fast, “you’re not leaving your room ever again.”

“Now-“

“I did promise Hunk you wouldn’t,” Pidge sniffed, “in order to keep you as safe as possible, you have to stay.”

“But I didn’t-“

“For now,” Shiro said raising both hands, “You do need rest. I’m not going to force you to stay in your room forever- hunk, don’t look at me like that – but for the next few days? Yes. You will stay here until we’re sure you’re all better.”

“That’s…” Lance made a face. He really felt fine. A little woozy, but fine.

“Please?” Hunk asked and Lance caved.

“Fine…but only because Hunk said please.”

As everyone gave Lance a Hug before they left, all except for Keith, Keith stayed behind.

“What’s up?” Lance asked as he crawled back into bed.

“…I need you to do me a favor.”

“Already?” Lance again, voicing his thoughts without thinking, “wow, this happened in a dream once and you owed me for the rest of your life.”

“Lance, I’m serious, I need you to really look after shiro.”

“What’s up with Shiro?”

“He’s different.”

“So are you.”

“What?”

“You’re talking to me. One on one,” Lance shrugged, “You never did that before. I suspect the years I’ve been gone have changed a lot of people. I never thought I’d see Pidge cry but here we are…wait…did she cry because her family-“

“We found both Matt and Sam,” Keith waved the topic away, “Sam is back on earth already, the point I’m trying to make is that Shiro is definitely different than normal. I can’t put my finger on it, but its been bugging me.”

“Ooohhh, you want me to look into it because I have a better memory of the past shiro,” Lance stopped, “wait…how did I pick up on that?”

“Thanks, Lance.”

“I didn’t say-“

“I owe you one.”

“Wait-“

Keith left the room and shut the door, leaving lance by himself.

()

“I thought you were going to hug him and not let go,” Pidge said to Hunk.

“I couldn’t,” Hunk shook his head, “I thought I might break him…”

()

Lance scowled at the door. The room was dimly lit and as much as he missed sleep, he didn’t feel tired at all.

He got up out of bed and headed toward the bathroom.

Looking at his face didn’t help his suspicions. The scars branched from his eye like a demented tree and the eye itself was gray and milky. 

He closed his right eye to test it out.

It wasn’t too bad. He could see blurry shadows so he wasn’t completely blind in that eye, but it was still disconcerting and made everything seem lopsided. 

As he tested to see how much of it was visible when he turned his head, he noticed thin white lines on his neck. White lines that were uncomfortably close to the carotid artery. They disappeared under the shirt colar.

That was another thing. He was wearing his old long sleeved blue shirt and jeans. If he had been a galra captive, then someone changed him out of the standard outfit. 

So whatever he found under this shirt, the others had already seen…which would explain the tears, he was sure.

Taking a deep breath he already could feel the pull of scar tissue. 

He winced and lifted the shirt anyway.

Scars crisscrossed everywhere and there were even clumps of scar tissue the size of his hand. There were also divots as if someone had taken a chunk out of him. 

Lance lowered the shirt and shook his head slowly.

“Nope,” he said turning to go back to bed, “not gonna think too much about it.”

()

Lance stayed in his room until he couldn’t anymore. Even back on earth he could only stand being sick for a limited time. 

Hunk and Pidge had come in and caught him up. He couldn’t believe they had killed Zarkon and the war STILL wasn’t over. He hated complications and he hated Krye for making it so complicated. 

“We’re never getting out, are we?” Lance sighed and Pidge shrugged.

“We’re closer than we were before,” she said, “rest up and we’ll introduce you to everyone.”

“Mm,” Lance nodded and rolled his eyes, “this should be interesting.”

“How so?”

“Because you said they thought I was an actual AI, seeing me in person is gonna totally freak them out- on second thought, let’s do it now, it should be totally hilarious.”

Pidge and Hunk laughed as well. It would be funny to see what expression Kolivan would make.

They joked until Shiro came in and told them that Lance needed to rest.

“I’m fine, guys, honest,” Lance sighed, “I’m not even tired.”

“Resting is more than being tired or not,” Shiro said, “Its giving your body and mind a chance to heal.”

That soured the mood real quick.

“Alright,” Lance said awkwardly, “but I’m getting up soon. I’ve been in a cube for a long time, I can’t stand these four walls for much longer.”

()

In lance language “soon” meant in the next hour or so. Shiro thought he meant the next day, but Lance was up and dressed before dinner.

Everyone was gathered on the Bridge discussing what their next moves were. They had just declared war on one of Kryes generals, Romak. Their thought was if they could capture him, then they could make the guy talk and tell them where Krye was hiding.

Voltron was not pleased about how Krye and the Witch hurt Lance.

Lance walked in to find everyone talking except for Keith who was standing by the wall glowering at Lotor and Shiro who had their heads together.

Lance took all this in at a glance and walked over to stand next to keith.

“Was this what you’re talking about before?” Lance said quietly, “You’re jealous of that guy?”

“That guy,” Keith said, just as quietly, “Is lotor, the guy who saved you.”

He expected Lance to suddenly like lotor, just like Hunk and Pidge. He’d thought he’d had allies in the yellow and green paladins against lotor, but the moment he’d saved lance it was like everything sketchy was forgotten. 

“I see,” Lance was quiet for a while, “I was saved by a walking Herbal Essences commercial.”

Keith snorted, a grin forming in spite of his bad mood.

“Here,” Lance sighed, “Let me show you how this is done.”

He left keith by the wall and walked up to the group of people around the dias.

“Hey everyone!”

“Lance!”

“Lance, what are you-“

“I heard Lotor was here and I wanted to say hello,” Lance said, beaming as he walked straight up to Lotor and held out a hand in greeting.

“I see you are doing better,” Lotor said a relieved a kind smile on his face.

“Because you’re such good friends with my friends, I guess that makes us friends too!” Lances grin got bigger, only Hunk saw the danger in this. 

But he didn’t do anything.

“I only want what’s best,” Lotor said.

“It shows,” Lance said, “but as a friend I have to tell you something really important.”

“Oh? What is that?”

“You got a little something in your teeth,” Lance said, pointing at his own mouth, “Just there. You can see it really good when you’re smirking like a bitch.”

The room went deadly quiet.

Lance continued to smile.

“Lance, what-“

They all stopped as Keiths laughter echoed in the silence. 

“Keith was feeling bad,” Lance shrugged, “Mission accomplished and I didn’t even have to lie to do it.”

“Lance!” Shiro scolded, but found even Allura and Pidge were starting to snicker. Coran had his head turned and Hunk had covered his face, but his shoulders were shaking. 

Lotor also looked around the room.

Not including the red paladin, his plan to bring Lance back and be the hero and get them all more on his side had worked like a charm. But now it was all falling apart.

“I see I was made into a joke to liven up the room a little,” Lotor said, again with a kind smile, “I guess we all have been fairly serious lately.”

“Its my job,” Lance said with a smile as innocent as Lotors, “To liven things up a bit. Usually it was keith that served the purpose, but you’re fresh meat, Lotor. I wonder how much fun we can have?”


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro paced while Qal tapped his fingers against the table.

“Two doboshes.”

“I’m not going.”

“One dobosh and 54 ticks.”

“I have a different body build than Krye, how the heck am I supposed to pretend to be him?!”

“Those under lord Krye will understand,” Qal sighed, “My lord already sent out a notice before he left what you were to be treated as him. Through a screen you will look just fine. We are not planning on any close ups or personal meetings with our enemies. So long as you can act the part everything should be fine.”

“What makes any of you think I can act?!”

“We don’t, you just have to pretend to.”

“AAAGH!”

“Softer, lord Krye never raised his voice.”

()

Romak hissed as news arrived of another ship destroyed. Krye had left orders to not confront Voltron, but they were making it very difficult not to.

()

It began slowly.

Lance attended all the meetings, but Shiro expressly forbade him from joining any of the fighting, and even forbade him from sparing and doing any fight training. 

“Exercise is good,” he said, “but stay away from any fighting for now.”

Lance looked over and Keith who shrugged.

“Fine,” Lance said, “but I get to be part of all your discussions still, right?”

“You want to?” Hunk asked. The Lance he knew would use this as an excuse to goof off and skip anything boring and unnecessary. 

“Hunk, big guy, I’ve spent countless months eavesdropping on conversations way more boring than what to blow up next. The stories I could retell-“

“Please spare us,” Pidge said quickly, “You can come any time you want. We’re not saying you shouldn’t be part of the discussion, Shiro just means you shouldn’t be fighting…in your condition.”

“You mean with only one eye?”

She winced and he hugged her.

“Common’, I aint that tender pidge. Facts are facts and we have to live with them. I have no idea how I ended up this way so I have no memories to go along with the mentioning of them. Just say it.”

“Fine!” she batted him away, “One eyed people shouldn’t be fighting!”

“There, now that didn’t hurt at all,” Lance shrugged, “In fact I’m going to fight back and say something along the lines of ‘say that to most of the rebellion’…seriously, have you seen Matts group of mercenaries? Some of them are out right blind and they’re flying. Same with that one of Lotors generals…”

“Narti doesn’t fly the ship.”

“Or so she says.”

“She doesn’t say anything either,” Pidge said, “If she does speak, its not to any of us.”

“So she may have said it in her head,” Lance said and made Pidge throw up her hands and march away.

“We’re just worried,” Hunk said and Lance chuckled.

“I love you guys, really, but I’m fine. I feel great even!”

“That’s kinda what’s worrying some of us as well,” Hunk said quietly, as though he’d been told to not say anything.

“What do you mean?” Lance muttered leaning in close to get the juicy details.

“Lotor says you may be compromised…”

“Lotor is an idiot.”

“Why do you not like him,” Hunk asked, “I know why keith doesn’t, but I thought you two would get along. You know…share skin care ideas.”

Hunk grinned and Lance shook his head.

“Maybe, but for some reason he pisses me off. I can’t put my finger on it, but I really don’t like the guy.”

In fact, Lance was unrepentantly using Keith as an excuse to humiliate and abuse Lotor every chance he got. A snide comment here, an insult there.

()

“Lance,” Shiro pulled him to one side after a meeting, “you need to stop this.”

“Stop what?” Lance asked innocently. 

“You need to lay off Lotor, we’re trying to get him on the galra throne so we can end the war. Your heckling isn’t making this any easier.”

“Heckling?” Lance held a hand to his chest in indignation, “Heckling? Shiro, what I do is not something as simple as ‘heckling’, what I do is an art. What I’m doing is keeping Lotor on his toes. The guy has become way to comfortable. I’m helping in the only way I know how.”

“You’re bs isn’t going to work on me,” Shiro narrowed his eyes at the boy, “Don’t give me that crap.”

Lance gave a sheepish grin, “come on, Shiro, the guy is a prude, and you know it.”

“No, I don’t,” Shiro said firmly, “he’s a good person and after everything he’s been through, he’ll make a great leader. If you trust me, then you can trust him. I’m about to give Keith the same lecture, but I need you to help. Keiths held some kind of grudge for a while and I can’t figure it out.”

Lance shook his head, “Shiro, you’re the guys big brother, if you can’t figure it out, what makes you think I can make any difference?”

“If everyone can be on the same page-“

“You mean gang up on him?”

“No,” Shiro scowled, “Why would you jump to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know, Shiro,” Lance folded his arms, “Is it really jumping when the definition of a ‘gang up’ is a unified front against one individual?”

Lane then looked horrified.

“What the heck did I just say…”

“Lance, are you-“

“I don’t know, but I’m going to go, ok? Deal with Keith yourself.”

Lance pushed past Shiro and practically ran down the hall. 

Shiro watched him go and sighed before going to find Keith.

()

Pidge found Lance deep in the belly of the ship. In the same room she had fought sendaks underling when they had taken over the ship. 

Lance was hiding behind the consoul. 

“So, what’s the problem this time?” She asked sitting on the other side and waited for him to answer.

“Nothing.”

“Wow, I’ve heard you tell bad lies before and you were much more convincing then, try again.”

“Nothing I’d like to talk about,” he said. 

The fact was, he was freaking himself out. In spite of other peoples opinion of him, he was very self aware. He was always the goofball and the jokester and he was fine with that. He’d tried very hard all his life to be the class clown. He actively misunderstood serious situations half as a coping mechanism and half as his simply not wanting to know in general. 

But everything the others were saying, every meeting, every discussion, he not only understood what they were saying, but he found himself understanding what was left unsaid as well.

This just wasn’t him.

And he knew it.

Then there was Lotor. 

He’d told Hunk that he didn’t like him, but that was an understatement. 

Lance had never, in all his life, ever HATED anyone. Not even Keith. He was again, self aware enough, to know that his DISLIKE of Keith was born from jealousy. 

But he HATED lotor. 

Every time Lotor said anything in the meetings Lance had to physically watch his expressions or risk opening glairing at the guy. 

He seethed every time he had to be in the same room as him.

He was SUPPOSED to be the loveable goof that could get along with anyone not…whatever he was now.

“You remember anything?”

“Gads, you and Shiro,” Lance muttered, “No, I still don’t remember anything.”

“that’s gotta be hard…hardest part probably?”

She had a point. He’d been missing for over two years and that was a long time to not remember anything.

“yes and no,” he said, “just wish…I didn’t feel…stuck.”

Pidge didn’t respond and let Lance mutter and complain, which he did a lot of.

“And then Shiro wont let me actually help with anything, I feel like Hunk and you are still beating yourselves up and there’s nothing I can do about that except repeat that I’m fine, and Keith is really acting weird, and don’t get me started on Allura. I mean, does she like Lotor or not? She’s gotten really hard to read and yet easier at the same time. What about you? Do you like Lotor?”

“I like that he found you,” Pidge said automatically, “But I’m more apt to side with Keith that Lotor is rather sketchy. If I can settle the debt with Lotor, then I feel I can dislike him again.”

“But its not your debt, its mine, right?”

“Lance…I’m really sorry. Hunk and I just…we failed at every level: intelligence wise, as friends, as teammates, in general. I can’t really speak for Hunk, but I know…I’ve always relied on being quick and efficient. The fact that the galra got you before me, and I didn’t even see that as a possibility until too late…it burns. I hate it. I hate that your pain was indirectly caused by me.”

“But I don’t blame either of you.”

“Doesn’t stop me, Lance. I want to fix it. I want you to be better and just because I want it, wont magically make it happen. Just like you don’t blame us doesn’t magically make us feel not responsible. It truly is a sucky situation.”

Lance laughed.

“And then you laugh,” she hissed.

“Pidge, wanna know a secret?”

“What?”

“Crying gives me a headache and I hate headaches. So when I’m faced with a situation that requires either crying or laughter, I choose to laugh.”

“Sometimes its good to cry though,” she said and the both sat in silence for a while, each one trying to hide a sniffle or two.

()

“Where’s lance?” Hunk asked as they sat for dinner that night.

“Headache,” Pidge shrugged, looking perfectly fine, “he’s a little upset with me right now anyway.”

“What did-“

“I punched him,” she said deadpanned and kept her mouth full of food the whole time so she couldn’t answer anyones questions.

()

Lance woke early in the morning and waled to the training area. 

The ship was quiet, but the mice had picked up on his time table and often joined him. They raced round his shoulders and head as he began his stretching.

“Room for one more?”

Allura walked in in her work out gear.

“Always,” Lance grinned at her.

They finished warm up together and Allura spotted him through his first round of training. 

“So,” Lance said getting up as Allura got ready for her turn, “What’s the real reason you’re up at this hour?”

She rolled her eyes and Lance grinned wider, “you’ve been a little snippy lately and I wanted to see if I could help.”

“You’re not good at this at all,” Lance scowled and tutted, “You’re supposed to say ‘What? Can’t I work out with a handsome guy once in a while?’ to which I’d respond, ‘of course you can, but hopefully next time it won’t be with a hidden agenda.’ THEN you come out with the truth!”

Allura laughed and shook her head, “Lance, I was born into politics. I know a pointless conversation when I’m faced with one and I’m not about to have a pointless conversation.”

“ouch.”

She shrugged, “We didn’t get to know each other very well…before you disappeared. I thought we could find a way to get along.”

“So my snapping at the Princess here and there has nothing to do with this?”

“A little, but not really,” she said, not correcting Lance in any way what he had decided to call lotor.

“Fair enough.”

They cuckled when the door opened and Lotor walked in. He wore his own work out uniform and had his hair up in a pony tail. But what caught their attention was that the outfit had a cape. Seeing him Allura and Lance shared a glance and laughed outright.

Lotor scowled.

“I thought I’d be alone this early in the morning,” he said and took the cape off, to set up his spot by the wall.

“I’ve been doing this for a while,” Lance said, “never bothered you before.”

Allura sighed. It wasn’t so much snipping, as it was calling out Lotor like this. They all knew Lotor liked to embellish the truth a little, but Lance aired it like dirty laundry with short quips.

“Seems I’m the one bothering you,” Lotor said, “I apologize.”

Lance shrugged and didn’t answer back. He was a little upset that his time with Allura was interrupted, but he wasn’t going to let it ruin the good mood he had.

“How about a spar?” Lotor asked, “me and you?”

Lance scowled, “Shiro says-“

“I know, but it must chafe always being told what to do. I understand that. The others use to say what an excellent shooter you were-“

Lance blushed a little.

“-how about you show me?”

“Shooting and close combat are two different disciplines,” Allura shook her head, “you know this.”

“I’ll go easy,” Lotor promised, “I can teach you how to fight and so you wont disappear again.”

It was the first good insult lotor was able to get in all week.

Lance, his mood ruined simply by being in the presence of lotor, bit the bait he knew Lotor was dangling. He stood and asked allura where the practice swords and guns were. He hadn’t needed to know before because his bayard could be set to a practice level.

He didn’t have a bayard anymore.

Allura gave him a look and he grinned and shrugged, “why not? Its not gonna kill anyone.”

She rolled her eyes again and opened a panel in the wall. She handed him a gun that would shoot small balls of energy that would have about the same impact as a paintball.

Lance really wanted to shoot Lotor with a whole clip of paintballs.

“I’ll take these,” Lotor said and grabbed two practice swords. Allura scowled.

“One, Lotor, if you’re going to teach, one should suffice.” 

“Not if he wishes to learn quickly, right? Lance?”

Lance shrugged, “I don’t care.”

He knew Lotor was going to pay him back. He’d take his beating and then move on. This wouldn’t be the first time someone did this. His mouth was constantly getting him into trouble, so he learned to take his hits and keep going. As much as he hated lotor, the guy had earned the right to take a hit.

Lance focused as much as he could, but over and over he ended up on his back. 

“Back up,” Lotor said, not even hiding the smirk anymore. When Lance was tired of taking hits he tried to fight back more and Lotor fought harder as well.

_I hate him…_

Lotor actually laughed when Lance fell.

_I hate him more than anything…_

Lance dodged Lotors swing and popped him twice in the side. Lotor staggered back and hissed.

“Now its for real,” Lotor muttered.

_…not if I kill him first…_


	3. Chapter 3

Lance blinked in shock.

Keith panted, his sword out and held in between Lance and Lotor. Lance held a sword of his own, but the one he was holding was broken.

It had broken when Keith had intercepted the fast and deadly swing that was aimed for lotors neck.

“How…” Lance dropped the sword and stepped back.

“Lance, you ok?” Keith asked and Lotor snorted.

“is HE ok?”

“Yeah, lotor, Lance wouldn’t go against Shiros orders if SOMEONE hadn’t goaded him into it.”

Allura folded her arms and stood her ground. When the fighting had seemed to get more fierce, she’d ran to grab Keith. Hunk and Pidge probably would have joined in against Lotor and Lance would’ve been in trouble had she grabbed Shiro.

She had explained everything to him as they had run back to the training deck in time to see Lance steal Lotors blade and then almost kill him with it.

“I’m fine…” Lance said, but didn’t sound convinced. To him…he didn’t remember anything other than really hating Lotor and then BAM Keith was there and there was a broken sword in his hand. 

“Lance-“

“nope,” Lance raised both hands, “Not gonna think about it! Not gonna do it!”

He turned and walked quickly out of the room. Keith nodded to Allura who ran after him, then he turned back to scowl at Lotor. 

“We all know you don’t like Lance because he teases you, I get that more than most, but this is ridiculous. I may not like you, but I thought you were better than this.”

And then Keith turned and left the room. Leaving Lotor with a new feeling of guilt he never knew he could feel.

()

Keith turned down the hall and ran into Allura.

“I lost him,” She panted, “I had no idea he could run that fast.”

“Have Coran lock down the hangers so that we can at least be assured he stays on the ship,” Keith said after some thought, “If he wants time alone, that’s fine, so long as he’s here. If he disappears again, Hunks going to show his Hyde face again.”

“Whats-“

“I’ll tell you later, I’ll go wake up the others.”

()

When everyone was awake, he told them all what happened. 

“I apologize,” Lotor said, also in the room, “I had no idea that would happen.”

“Does anyone know where he might have gone?” Shiro asked as all eyes turned to Hunk and Pidge. They both looked down at their shoes.

“Guys?”

“He will not be happy if we tell,” Hunk said, “I promised.”

Pidge nodded, “I’ve seen Lance angry only once before and its on par with hunks. I’m not going there.”

“Tell me,” Shiro ordered and they both shook their heads.

“We’ll go talk to him,” Hunk offered, “that way-“

“I have a few things to say to him anyway,” Shiro said sternly, “Tell. Me. Now.”

()

Shiro entered the domed room and made for the consul. 

There was no one behind it. Scowling he looked around and saw a pair of sneakers off to one side.

There was a thin walkway that lead to either side, but Shiro took the left one. Where the wall met the walkway there was a buttress. There didn’t seem to be any way up or around it, but Shiro stuck his head out into the void of the engines in order to peek behind the buttress.

Lance sat and scowled at him from a small pocket behind the slab of metal.

“Which one gave me up?” he asked without batting an eye. 

“Both,” Shiro said, “I didn’t give them a choice.”

Pidge had been the one to cave first, but he had no desire to tell Lance this detail. 

Lance grimaced and shook his head, “I’m fine, I just need to chill for a bit.”

“Obviously.”

Shiro swung his leg around and Lance reluctantly made room for the bigger man.

Shiro sat awkwardly in the small space.

“Can’t we-“

“No,” Lance said, “you came to me, I want to be here. If you want to leave, fine, in fact, please do.”

They sat in silence for a while and then Shiro said, “I still don’t remember much.”

Lance shrugged.

“I had no idea my hand was a weapon until I had to protect-“

“Skip.”

“What?”

“Just stop, Shiro, get to the point,” Lance hissed, “I’m so angry right now I could just….i have no idea. I have no idea what I’m even capable of anymore!”

“Lance-“

“I almost killed him, shiro, and you know what? I’m not sorry! I hate the guy that’s supposed to be our ally and I have no idea why! I hate him enough to not even be sorry or feel even the slightest bit guilty! How-“

“Because survival isn’t about guilt!” Shiro shouted, his voice echoing above Lances voice, “Why do you think…why are war veterans seen as heros and not murderers? Because when someone else has a gun to your face, you do what you can to survive. Same concept. When I was in the gladiator rings…at first I thought I’d just die, it would be so much easier and its not like the other guy wanted to be there either, but I kept going. I killed a lot of people, Lance, a lot of people who begged me not to, but I did it. Because it was either them or me.”

Another silence filled the small space.

“I just wanted you to know that you can come to me for anything,” Shrio said, “The moment you remember something, come to me and we’ll talk about it. You got good at fighting somewhere and I bet its no place good. As for why you hate Lotor, I think that’s a personal problem you need to work out.”

Lance nodded quietly and Shiro gingerly got up to leave.

“Thanks,” Lance muttered, not looking at him.

“Anytime.”

()

Shiro turned the corner down the hall from the main engine room and clutched his chest.

Everyone stood there, waiting to hear what was going on.

“Is he ok?”

“Is he angry at us?”

“He’s fine,” Shiro sighed, “like he said, he just needs to cool off a little. And he’s not angry at any of you.”

However he did catch lotors eye and give a slight nod.

No one noticed, except Keith.

()

Selmak crashed his escape pod and crawled out of the wreckage. 

The planet was a small one, and largely uninhabited. There might have been a settlement somewhere, but he made sure to crash land far enough away.

Pulling his sword and guns out he wrapped up his weapons and identification. Taking off his insignia he spoke into it.

“Forgive me, my lord, I could not accomplish your last order.”

Then he activated the emergency distress signal and slipped it in between the weapons. He left the bundle under a bush, completely out of sight and then took off at a run. Staggering at first.

()

Havla blocked Voltron from completely ousting Romaks main ship.

“About time,” Romak snapped, “I’m a sitting fraktale here!”

She fired on Voltron and pushed them back.

“Hey hey hey! Lord Krye said-“

“Lord Krye said to not confront directly, he NEVER said to let yourself be overcome! Now, fight back! If they want a fight, then it’s a fight they’ll get!”

()

“They got help!” Shiro called as they retreated a safe distance.

“They really are well organized,” Keith said, a grudging respect forming for their enemy, “More so than zarkons or even Lotors forces.”

“Excuse me?”

Lotor snapped through the com. He stood on the bridge of the castle and could hear everything in the lions. 

“Facts are facts, Lotor,” Lance, who was standing near by grinned, “No need to take offence. These guys are good and your forces together with Voltron were having a hard time before the help arrived and let me tell you- it wasn’t Voltron who was lacking.”

They openly glared at each other. It was now common knowledge among Voltron and the allies that Lance and Lotor did not get along. 

“What would you know about strategy anyway?” Lotor hissed.

“I don’t, which is what makes this so sad to explain to you-“

“Enough you two,” Shiro called out, “This just means we have another target. Lotor, what do you know about the new comer?”

“That’s Havlas ship,” Lotor replied, “She’s meaner than Romak. She wasn’t part of the generals meeting, so I don’t know much about her, but she’s often used as the one who obliterates everything in her path.”

“She has a temper?”

“From the rumors, yes.”

“Then we can use that. What do the rumors say piss her off the most?”

“Everything,” Lotor said, “The rumors say everything, but if that were true, then she wouldn’t have gotten this far up the ladder.”

“The longer we out maneuver her the more frustrated she’ll get?”

“More than likely.”

“Then lets go. Pidge, hold onto that shield no matter what.”

()

Havla swore as her ship took a critical hit. She had planned on pushing them back only enough for them to get away, but they had come back with a vengeance, cutting off any opportunity they had.

“We have to go, Havla,” Romak snapped, “maybe if we disengage they’ll drop back as well.”

“They attacked you first, Romak,” Havla snapped, “they want something!”

Romak drummed his fingers, then nodded, “I’m going to open a communication channel, cease fire.”

“That is a dumb plan.”

“It’s the only one we have.”

“Doesn’t make it less dumb,” Havla muttered as she ordered the cease fire.

()

“They’re hailing us!” Coran called.

Shiro opened his mouth so tell everyone to push forward, but Keith interrupted.

“Let’s hear it Coran.”

Romak appeared on all their screens.

“I do not know what I’ve done to incur the wrath of Voltron, but if its something I can tell you without you destroying the lives of my men, then that would be preferable.”

Shiro snorted, “Then tell us where krye is.”

“I can not tell you that, but if you wish to speak to him, then I can pass along that message.”

“You hurt our friend,” Pidge snapped, “We want to do more than just talk!”

Romak opened his mouth and then closed it again, “I know nothing of this friend. Krye does not keep prisoners.”

“What a lie,” Lotor said and Romaks confused scowl turned almost murderous.

“We are not like YOU, Lotor,” he said firmly, “if we did have prisoners, they would be treated much better than-“

“More lies,” Lotor yawned, “don’t you get tired of spewing such filth?”

“Lord Krye does not-“

“That’s enough,” Shiro cut in, “Tell us where he is, or we destroy you.”

“Or not,” Romak grinned and the communication was cut as he and Havla warped away. The sudden warp sent a shockwave against them, damaging the castle and flinging Voltron back a considerable distance.

Lance laughed as the ship sparked and shuddered, “they pulled a ME!”

()

Shiro fitted the helmet on his head, feeling the technology adgust to his the new size.

“Shiro,” Qal appeared behind him, making him jump, “Romak and Havla is on the com. They are aware our lord is missing, and are willing to accept your input.”

“Oh goodie,” Shiro said and winced as his voice sounded just like Kryes. Qal also looked uncomfortable.

“Please refrain from saying anything our lord would not while in the helmet.”

“You realize that the moment Krye get’s him memories back, he’s going to say a lot worse things than ‘goodie’…right?”

“But until then,” Qal said, “you will have to behave.”

()

“My lord,” Romak and Halva appeared on the screen and explained what happened.

“It seems,” Shiro said, “That Lotor told them a few lies of his own. Go under for a while and then continue what you’ve been doing, but more discreetly.”

“Sir,” Havla huffed, “they were out of eradicate us, we should respond!”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Shiro replied, “Because I have a good guess as to what’s going on now.”

Havla hesitated, but then nodded, “If you are sure.”

“Havla,” Qal snapped, “You know better than to question our lord.”

“My apologies,” she said hurriedly, ducking her head a little.

“Havla,” Shiro said, remembering just in time what Krye would say in this instance, “a salute will do.”

She grinned and saluted, “Sir!”

The two generals ended their communications, but before Shiro could relax even a little Greshik appeared.

“My lord, we found Selmaks destress signal!”

Selmak?

“then go get him, stat- I mean, right away,” Shiro stammered. When Greshik cut off, Shiro turned to Qal.

“What’s with Selmak? Who is he and why is he important?”

“Selmak was a very skilled jet fighter for Lotor that my lord found and convinced to join him. Even I am unaware as to what they discussed together,” Qaltok sounded a little perturbed, “I was dismissed every time they talked. Then Selmak was sent on a secret mission. He’s been gone for some time.”

“Well, seems we’ve found him,” Shiro said, “let’s hope he’s still alive.”

()

Kolivan picked up on a small signal just outside of their receptor range. He had been on his way to the castle to touch base, but he swung to intercept the signal.

When he landed on the planet, he followed the signal to a small bundle. He turned the signal off and began to examine the contents.

Above him Kryes ships appeared and were descending. Kolivan grabbed the bundle and ran. Ships started to land as he moved as fast as he could, back to his ship.

Taking a round about way he tripped over what he thought was a log. Instead he found a body. Shots fired into the corpses back. 

Knowing now whose possessions he held, Kolivan ran faster.


	4. Chapter 4

Kolivan dropped the bundle on the table in front of the other paladins. Lotor was gone on another assignments, scouting ahead.

“I found what appears to be the belongings of one of Kryes men,” Kolivan huffed, “I barely made it out myself.”

He explained the distress signal and how Kryes ships, identifiable by the white stripe they painted on the side of their ships, were descending at the same time.

As he spoke he pulled out each item and laid it out in a line.

“Who ever this is,” Kolivan finished, “He’s important. That was Greshims ships, second only to Qaltok, Kryes first general.”

“He could be a traitor,” Hunk said, “he could have been on the run.”

They all looked at the items on the table. Two swords, a gun, Kryes insignia, and what looked like a scandisk.

Pidge picked up the scandisk and plugged it into her arm com. A list of random letters and numbers popped up.

She swore.

“Kolivan,” she said, “you wouldn’t happen to have a code cracker in the blades somewhere that could help me with this? The faster we figure these things out the faster this war will end.”

Kolivan nodded, “I’ll send one as soon as possible.”

Lance reached out for the insignia and began to mess with it. The others ignored him and started to talk about what needed to be done. 

“We have established eyes everywhere,” Kolivan replied, “Every sector has at least one base of operations in it.”

“No one will be able to make a major move without us knowing,” Keith said, “but it’s the little moves that can add up in the end. Do we have an idea to find those out?”

“Matt says they got most of everything else covered,” Pidge said, still fiddling with the scandisk, “Apparently they’ve been rather close with the Blades?”

Kolivan nodded, “Matt has been instrumental getting our operations as far as they have. We owe a lot to the rebel forces.”

_“Forgive me, my lord, I could not accomplish your last order.”_

They all went silent as they turned to Lance who had somehow activated a hidden camera on the insignia. The holographic image shoed a beat up galra, cradling one arm as he hurriedly stuffed everything under a bush a ran away. Not long after there were other feet following after him.

“What the heck is that?”

“LANCE!”

Lance stared at the screen, transfixed as small glowing magic circles appeared all over his skin. A few cracked and broke, the magic breaking in to glittering lights as Lance dropped the insignia. The hologram vanished as his eyes rolled back and he started to collapse.

Hunk grabbed him just in time and started to run to the healing pods.

“HUNK! WAIT!” Shiro just barely was able to stop the big guy in his panic, “Hunk, I- let’s get a look at him first, ok?”

Hunk took a deep breath, looked down at his unconscious friend and then nodded.

()

_Lance opened his eyes to a night mare._

_He sat in the white room again and lived it on fast forward. Slowly he began to remember everything, his suspicions about the witch and the first mentions of Lotor. He remembered talking with the Blades and with Matt. He remembered that he’d gone into Zarkons ship to get a closer look when he’d suddenly been pulled out of the room and into a pod._

_He’d tried to escape a few times._

_But after they left both legs broken he’d stopped trying._

_Lance had, at the time, not been able to stay silent due to his time in the room by himself, but knowing that, he’d spouted off recipes and nonsensical information about sharks and the ocean to all his tormenters._

_After a while the witch started to question him, root around in his head and mess with his memories._

_There was no stopping her from taking everything from his memories to his very emotions…_

()

Lance sat bolt upright, sweat pouring down his face and he shivered nonstop. 

“Lance, you ok? What happened?” Hunk asked his hand on Lances head and the other checking his pulse, “you didn’t seem to be in any danger, so we took you to your room instead of the healing pod, but- Lance?”

His vision blurred in his good eye as well as he started to cry. Hunk wrapped him in a hug and Lance bawled into his shoulder. The others were elsewhere. Hunk has said he’d stay and practically forced everyone else to leave. He’d guessed that Lance wouldn’t want a lot of people here, but he didn’t think his friend, his ‘I’d rather smile than cry’ friend, would be like this.

“Wanna talk?”

Lance shook his head.

“You remember something?”

Lance shuddered.

“Ok.”

()

When Hunk left he ran to the kitchen to make his friend some comfort food.

()

When Lotor came back to the castle he found kolivan and everyone hovering over one of Kryes insignias.

“Where did you get that?” he asked walking over and taking a seat.

“Kolivan found it with some stuff,” Keith waved Lotors question away as they looked it over some more.

“Apparently there’s a video function,” Allura kindly explained, “but we don’t know how to turn it on.”

“A video function?!” Lotor felt a moment of panic, then remembered he didn’t care. So what if Krye had seen what he’d done to that pest. Krye was no longer really a problem.

“Yeah,” Pidge chimed in, “Lance was able to get it to work, but we haven’t figured it out yet…its really vexing…”

Lotors head snapped around, “where is he?”

“In bed,” Shiro said, “he passed out, but woke up a little while ago. Hunk says he’s fine, just needs some space and food…apparently.”

Shiro didn’t look too worried, so Lotor calmed down as well.

“Wow, Shiro,” Pidge said, “tell us how you really feel.”

Shiro scowled, “what do you mean.”

“Well,” Coran said trying to help, “you sounded a bit….uncaring there.”

“I did not, i-“ he looked around the table and saw the truth on everyones face, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like that. I just thought that if he’s eating, he should be fine.”

“With hunk you never know,” Pidge said sagely and Keith nodded.

“Lance may be eating on his own accord, or Hunk may be forcing it down his throat,” he added, “either way, Shiros right. Lance should be up and about tomorrow.”

This was Lance ‘I can’t stay put for more than 12 hours’ McClain they were talking about.

()

That night Shiro went to talk to Lance.

“How’re you doing?”

Lance snorted, “Between Hunk and Hunk, I think I’ll live weather I want to or not.”

Shiro nodded and sat donw at the end of the bed. They sat in silence for a time before Lance broke it.

“I remember…just a little,” he said, “I…I don’t want to talk about it, but I do remember how I was downloaded and a few things after that…”

“Just a few?”

Lance nodded, “it cut off oddly, so I think theres more I’m not remembering, but so far…its just a little bit.”

The silence grew once again before Shiro commented, “Lance, do you think you’ll be fine?”

Lance didn’t answer for a while, then he gave a short nod, “yeah, I think so. I mean, everything I remember already happened, I can’t change it, and I’m alive. I was fine the other day so I should be fine tomorrow…I just need to process this a little.”

Shiro smiled, “You know, for how silly you behave, I’ve always been amazed at how mature you are when it matters most.”

Lance blushed at the compliment and shook his head, “don’t let others know, I have an image to protect.”

“Of course,” Shiro laughed.

()

No one saw lance the next day. Pidge peeked in his room and informed everyone that he wasn’t there.

No pods were missing.

Shiro checked the engine room and didn’t find him.

No one saw him until Kolivan tried to leave.

Keith noticed him hiding behind the Blades ship and raised an eye brow. Lance made a shooing motion and Keith rolled his eyes.

“I think kolivan knows his own way out,” he said to everyone who had come to see the Blade leader off. Keith ushered everyone out and turned to Lance.

“We’re even,” he mothed and left.

“So what did you wish to talk about without the others that you would wait here all day?” Kolivan asked as Lance walked up to him.

“I want you to train me,” Lance said without hesitation.

“No,” Kolivan said immediately.

“Hear me out-“

“No.”

“I know you train keith and I just-“

“No.”

“Look, I really think-“

“No.”

“I need my memory back.”

Kolivan stopped and looked at the determined look on Lances face.

“You did not get your memory back through fighting,” he said, “fighting is useless and against the black paladins orders.”

“Yeah, I’ve never been one for rules, but believe me when I say I think this will work,” Lance said and explained his side of the story when he’d fought with Lotor.

“It was like my brain skipped a beat. If I can get a hold on why and that space of time between what I remember and what my muscles remember, then I should be able to not only remember, but not pass out like a diva every time.”

“What’s a-“

“never mind,” Lance shook his head, “PLEASE Kolivan! Please say you’ll spar with me? I know you’re stronger and more skilled than Lotor which is why I’m asking you. If I almost killed lotor, then you should be safer to spar with, yes?”

Kolivan sighed. He had been warned that the AI- no, that this Lance person was tenacious. 

“One time-”

“Three,” Lance interrupted, “Three and if nothing happens we’ll call it quits, deal?

Kolivan almost slapped the child, but held back.

“Fine,” he said and a large, relieved smile broke out on Lances face.

“And no one, not even Keith, gets to know,” Lance added, “just between us…because if this doesn’t work then I don’t want keith or pidge…or allura rubbing it in, and if it does work, I don’t want Shiro to know.”

“Why not the black paladin?”

“Because, like you said, this is against the rules,” Lance stipulated, “Let’s try to not get into trouble, yes?”

()

“Where were you?!” Pidge snapped as Lance sauntered onto the bridge.

“Just walking around,” Lance shrugged with the simple lie, “Did you guys call for me over the com?”

They had not…they had forgotten that that was a thing…

()

The real Shiro drummed his fingers against the table. 

He new now what Lotor was up to…but what about the witch? Was she really doing all this to support her son? Or was this about something more?

“You’re thoughts?” Qal asked.

“I’m going to jump…”

“Please don’t. My lord would be very upset. I think he really liked you.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Shiro sighed and sat back, folding his arms, “we need to shake things up.”

“How so?”

“Make a move…HA!” Shrio grinned, “And I know just what to do.”

()

“I think we all deserve a break,” Shiro said and Allura nodded meaningfully. It was no secret that they had argued over this just the night before.

“There is a planet not too far form here with a wonderful lake,” Allura grinned, “it should prove refreshing and restful.”

()

The day was just as she promised. Shiro forced them all to take their weapons with them, but by and large, they left them on the beach.

Allura learned a few “pool games” and Coran was taught by Shiro who Marco Polo was. The others in turn learned that alteans pool games could not be preformed by humans. Allura could hold her breath for much longer than they could…

Everything came to a screeching halt, however, when they got unwelcome company.

A small ship with a white stripe landed before they were able to get back to the castle. They all pulled out their weapons and bayards while they waited for whoever to exit the craft.

An extremely tall galra (even by galra standards) walked out holding and waving a small white cloth.

Lotor and Allura braced themselves.

The paladins relaxed a little.

“I have come with a message form my lord,” he said.

“Why are you waving the white cloth of battle if you simply come with a message?!” Allura snapped.

“In the human culture, it is a symbol of peace and truce,” the galra said with a shrug, “I merely wanted to show courtesy to their customs.” 

Lotor scowled, “we want nothing to do with-“

“What’s the message?” Lance asked, fingering the trigger slightly. The galra looked at Lance for a while before turning to the others.

“My name is Qaltok, first general of lord Krye. It has come to our attention that you have in your possession Selmaks belongings. His weapons, insignia, and work. We are willing to trade.”

Qaltok held up another stick that looked like a scandisk, “this information, for everything of Selmaks that you picked up.”

“What’s on the stick?” Pidge asked, “More codes?”

“One video,” Qaltok replied, “and a detailed list of advancements our engineer department came up with recently; complete with blueprints and all.”

Hunk twitched a little.

He was now very interested.

“You get half and we get half,” Pidge said before Shiro could answer.

“Pidge, no-“

“No,” Qaltok said, “this is an all or nothing deal.”

“Why would we trade with the likes of you?” Shiro snapped, “After everything you’ve done? Siding with Zarkon? Burning down entire planets?! And torturing people!”

Lance winced a little, but no one noticed, all their attention was on the enemy.

The galra was quiet for a time, then said, “Krye is not your enemy. You will learn this in time. But until then, do we have a deal?”

“No,” Shiro spat.

Qaltok nodded, “then I shall take my leave.”

The galra turned, fully trusting them to not open fire or attack, and walked back onto his ship. The moment the door shut, they ran back to the castle.

“Coran!”

“I’m looking,” he snapped, “no major ships in the vicinity! Just another small one in orbit!”

“Shields up until they are gone!”

“What do you think they’re capable of?” Lance asked, “they’re no larger than a slightly bigger fighter jet.”

“I’m not risking anything,” Allura said firmly, “They were able to find us way too quickly…I don’t like it.”

()

“Che,” Shiro scowled as Qal told him what happened, “I thought Pidge and Hunk would take the bait…looks like they really believe Lotor that Krye hurt lance…”

“Mmm, what’s your next plan?”

“What’s yours?”

“You wont like it.”

“Try me.”

“Start a war.”

Shiro was about to snap back something snarky, then realized what Qal was actually saying and thinking.

“You are insane.”

Qal grinned, “I like to think that’s why my lord chose me to begin with.”


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone had been asleep for a few hours as Lance paced on the training deck. Kolivan had arrived earlier that day and had trained with Keith. Now it was his turn.

Would everything be ok?

Kolivan walked in with a large case. He set it down and as Lance walked over, he began to take out all sorts of weapons. Long medieval looking weapons and short ones. Weapons that looked more scifi and ones that didn’t really look like weapons at all.

“What are those for?” Lance asked, looking them over. He wanted to touch a few of them, but held himself back. Kolivan was already annoyed with him, he didn’t want to push it.

“If you learned in the gladiator rings, then you should be familiar with the weapons provided the prisoners there, if not, then we should know by the weapons you are familiar with. This is simply a way to know how you learned to fight and what weapons you now know how to use.”

“Cool,” Lance said looking around at them all.

“For now, we will start with the two we already know you are familiar with.” He held out a small gun and a practice sword.

Lance grimaced at the sword as he held it awkwardly in one hand.

“That is not how you hold it,” Kolivan was already correcting his stance and grip. Lance did not feel comfortable with either.

“I don’t think this is right,” Lance said after a while.

“I’m going to attack and you will block,” Kolivan said, ignoring him, “here I come.”

Kolivan moved swiftly, but directly in a simple downward stroke; an easy block. Lance lifted the sword and the weapon was knocked out of his hand.

“Grip it tighter.”

“It was tighter.”

“Then be more flexible.”

“That doesn’t make sense!”

Koloivan sighed and picked the weapon up to hand back to Lance, “How about you find a stance and a grip that you find comfortable, then. I’ll wait.”

Kolivan stepped back and let Lance do his thing. 

Lance sighed as well and tried to find a stance that felt ‘right’. He tried each foot forward, to the side, on his toes…nothing seemed to fit…

Then Kolivan attacked again, this time without warning.

Lance blocked it and doged as Kolivan kept attacking. The Blade leader attacked directly with simple easy to block strokes, but they were quick and kept Lance active and on the defense.

“There,” Kolivan finally said stepping back, “I think that answers that.”

Lance blinked and realized he had not only blocked all of the attacks, but he felt balanced. He gripped the sword near the hilt and his feet were in a wide position, ready to move any direction.

“That is a stance not many would take,” Kolivan said, “It is seen as a shaky foundation unless you have perfect control over the muscles and are flexible enough to move from there. But the best part about that stance is that it works with more than just the sword.”

Lance began to stand straight again, but Kolivan raised a hand, telling him to stay put. He walked over to the wall and gathered three other weapons.

“With that stance you can easily use a spear like weapon, a club, and a chain. Size of weapon is not an issue when you’re flexible enough to counter anything you are facing. The ability to dodge and evade is every bit as important as the attack.”

“So…because I stand like this, I can evade better?”

“Yes, it allows more dexterity, but you must have the stamina for it as well. To keep up that position for a long time, it requires a lot of effort, your whole body is engaged. You must know your body well in order to gage when to end the fight, or you will lose.”

“Ok,” Lance said, trying to make sense of it all, “so right now…I guess we’ll see how long I last?”

“No,” Kolivan said, “Right now we will see how far your skill goes. We will continue to spar and see where that takes us.”

()

Lance was sore as all get out the next morning.

Kolivan had put his through the ringer, so when Hunk came up to him and slapped his back, Lance nearly fell over.

“Ohmygosh! What’s wrong!”

“I’m fine, big guy!” Lance said trying to get his friend to calm down, “I just slept a little wrong and I’m sore, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Hunk sighed, “that’s good…well, not good, but not all bad…”

Lance laughed and hit Hunks shoulder, “let’s go see what’s on the ‘to do’ list today.”

()

“Things are changing,” Shiro said, “Our war against Krye and the witch is going a lot slower than we think, if only we could find a way into his forces...”

They were all gathered together, Kolivan off to one side more as an observer than a participant.

“Have we found a way into Krye forces that will actually work?” Lance asked and everyone looked at him, “what?”

“not cool,” Pidge scowled.

“Do you know how to, since you brought it up,” Lotor asked.

Lance shrugged, “No, but I know why you can’t.”

“And why is that?”

“The same reason Pidge was never found out at the garrison,” Lance said and Hunk and Pidge thought about it, then nodded.

“Makes sense.”

“But if that’s the case then we’re up against someone with an amazing memory,” Hunk said, looking a little defeated.

“Not really,” Pidge said, “that’s what delegation is for.”

“And now you have to explain this to the rest of us, please?” Allura asked, “what are you talking about?”

“Pidge is the spitting image of her brother,” Lance said, “So why was she never discovered as a Holt in the garrison where her family is very very very well known? Because every teacher has at least 4 classes of about 25 to 30 students. They don’t pay enough attention.”

“It would’ve been harder in the more specialized classes in the higher years,” Hunk added, “be we never got there before we found the lion.”

“Which means Krye knows everyone on his flag ship by name and face,” Pidge concluded, “and so does each commander of their ship. Infiltrating is next to impossible when everyone is close enough to know a stranger on sight.”

“Do YOU know everyone by name or at least by face, Lotor?” Lance asked, “are you sure you can call yourself a proper leader without knowing THAT much?”

“that’s enough, Lance,” Shiro said, “and even if that’s the case, that doesn’t speak against Lotor, it just makes things more difficult for us. The Blades are no longer a non entity. Krye is aware of their presence and they’ve not been able to get in. Opret was the only one to get in and he’s been out of reach since his last and final report to us.”

“Which lead us to Lance, so it wasn’t a total failure,” Hunk said.

“Awww,” Lance grinned and laughed. Lotor tried to keep a straight face and not show his disgust, but it was very difficult. How those two were so close he had no idea.

In fact, how everyone liked Lance was a mystery to Lotor. Lance was a moron that talked more often than he should, yet somehow, he managed to get everyone, even the red paladin, on his side. Even though he teased the red paladin, Keith still chose Lance over him!

Lotor knew he should’ve killed him when he had the chance.

()

Lance again was first when he waited for Kolivan to arrive the next night. 

Again, Kolivan arrived with his case of weapons.

“Tonight you will try a different weapon each time we spar.”

Lance laughed, then realized Kolivan was serious, “Oh, no, I will kill myself. Just cause you said my stance was versatile last night doesn’t mean I actually know!”

“I’m not saying you should take a chain weapon,” Kolivan sighed, “but at least take a spear and see what happens.”

Lance took what Kolivan called a ‘spear’. To Lance it looked like a five foot, five pronged cattle prod. 

Even with kolivan coaching on how to use it, nothing seem familiar. Then Kolivan raised his voice.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?!” Kolivan snapped as Lance swung wildly, “Its impossible to do that with this weapon but you just might!”

Lance stopped and scowled…he’d heard those words before…

“Now, when using a spear a wider stance is necessary,” Kolivan snapped, his voice going back to normal and the revelation Lance was having was gone.

“Speak up,” Lance said.

“What?”

“Yell at me,” Lance said, then laughed, “I have never said that before in my life.”

“why-“

“I felt like I’ve been snapped at before…then again, it could be Iverson I’m remembering, we’ll see. Just yell at me like you were doing.”

Kolivan scowled. He did not raise his voice often and he didn’t like to. He now felt oddly self conscious.

How was he to instruct while yelling? It didn’t seem like the natural thing to do…

“Raise the tip!” he snapped, “angle your grip or you are going to snap your wrist! You’re-“

“Add in some insults,” Lance said, “com’on, I know you know some.”

Kolivans scowl deepened. He KNEW insults didn’t work as effectively. That was an old way of teaching he wasn’t comfortable with. But if the boy asked for it, then the boy would get it. This was HIS training.

Without a word Kolivan walked up to Lance and kicked his legs out from under him.

“AGAIN!” Kolivan roared.

Lance scrambled to his feet, a tingling in the back of his head.

Kolivan let Lance take his stance again. It was wrong, so Kolivan kicked his legs out again.

“DO IT RIGHT!”

Lance scrambled again, but before he could even lift the spear, kolivan kicked him to the ground again.

“DO! IT! _RIGHT! OR! DIE!”_

()

_Lance was no longer staring up at Kolivan, but up at an old and scarred galra. His wrists were chained and he still could beat the tar out of him._

_“If I could kill you I would!” he yelled, “Now get up and learn!”_

_Lance silently got up and took his position only to be knocked down again._

_“What is this?!” the galra yelled, “they send me a soulless doll to train! Making you into a weapon are they? But why? I thought they already had one! What’s so special about you?”_

_“Stop gabbing and do your work,” said a Druid off to one side, “or your child dies.”_

_The old galra spat and Kicked Lance, “GET UP!”_

()

Lance blinked as he once again saw Kolivan, “-UP!”

He scrambled to his feet and beamed at the galra.

“I remembered something! I-“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Kolivan said raising a hand and stopping Lance, mouth still open, “Nothing is more dangerous than a half formed memory. You may slowly be getting it back, but you are going to be coming across a lot of things that don’t have a lot of context. Keep it all to yourself until you have everything in full.”

“What if its something important?” Lance asked.

“Then it is even more imperative that you have all the facts first.”

“What if…” Lance shifted, “What if I told them something I didn’t know was important and it hurt the team…or-“

“Then it already happened and they lived,” Kolivan said in his stern and non emotional way. But realized that wasn’t the right answer.

“I’m still sifting through everything…” Lance said, nudgeing the spear on the ground with his foot, “I’m the worst at keeping secrets…I think I even told them my moms sugar cookie recipe…to which I’m going to Hell for. But I really don’t want to have said anything that I…Pidge said they knew where the rebel bases were, what if I told them that? What if-“

“What if you told them where the Blades bases were at?” Kolivan asked, “we all took the risk going against the empire, Lance, every one of us knows this is not a game. We take calculated risks and sometimes -more often than not- we come up short. That’s war. If you managed to get by two years of torture with only giving away a few rebel bases, then I’m more in awe than upset.”

Lance shook his head.

“But-“ Lance started and expected to be interrupted, but Kolivan stood and waited for him to continue, “but I don’t get it. I don’t understand what my memories are all about or why or…anything!”

“That’s why I told you to wait,” Kolivan said, “get all the information, then you can talk to whoever you need to. I’ll be here to help in case of an emergency, but since we’re talking memories here, most of what you remember can’t be fixed and should just be accepted as a historical fact.”

Lance laughed, which confused Kolivan.

“Historical fact, oh my gosh. You just saying that made me think of some poor sap having to remember names and dates about this stupid war, like, ‘when did the blue paladin vanish into the enemy galra database? A) two months after finding the castle, B) three months after finding the castle, or C) four months after finding the castle. The answer is A, because only Lance McClain could screw up so royally in so short of time.”

He laughed and Kolivan again was confused. The boy had just spoken rather harshly against himself and then laughed…it made the galra worry about him slightly.

It was then that Lance skin began to glow with the magic circles again. This time Lance noticed and tried to wipe them away. One on the back of his hand cracked and broke.

()

_“I can’t teach an empty soul with no sense of preservation!” The old galra snapped at the Druid, “He must have SOMETHING if you want him to do ANYHTING!”_

_“You will do it, or else,” the Druid hissed. The Galra snarled and turned back to Lance._

_Lance then remembered all the lessons he’d been taught by this old galra. He’d been trained to use every kind of weapon._

_Every._

_Single._

_One._

_And master them all. Lance broke every bone in his body and the druid would just heal him for another round._

_While learning, Lance remembered what pain was. In the rare moments that the druid was gone, the old galra would speak to Lance._

_“You bleed, and that’s ok.”_

_-And-_

_“learn to feel first, then learn to do.”_

()

Lance blinked and was shocked when tears fell to the floor.

“Kolivan-“

“I don’t want to know,” Kolivan said raising a hand again, “take your time.”


	6. Chapter 6

Lance didn’t leave his room the next day. He claimed he had a bad headache and Pidge looked over at hunk, who shrugged. Keith looked between them and raised an eyebrow. The two shook their heads and glanced over at Lotor and Shiro who had started to talk about a way to get more information on Krye.

“The fact is, we don’t know enough,” Shiro sighed, “At least nothing substantial.”

“What we need to do is stop talking about it and actually just do something,” Keith said, “sooner or later Krye is going to make a move. Shouldn’t we be the first ones to move so we have control of the battle?”

“My head hurts too,” allura sighed, “I just might go lie down as well.”

She got up and walked out of the room.

Lotor scowled at Keith as though it was his fault. Keith scowled back, challenging Lotor silently.

“that’s a good idea Keith,” Shiro said, “but right now we’re at a stale mate. If we make the wrong move then everything we’ve done up to this point will be undone.”

“Sometimes,” Kolivan said, speaking up for the first time, “it is better to take that risk and fail, than to stay at the impasse.” 

“But this is Krye,” Lotor stressed, “this guy, I hate to say it, is good.”

“Still,” Kolivan shrugged, “I’ve said my bit.”

“I agree with kolivan,” Keith said, “we need to do something before Krye does.”

()

The real shiro looked over at Qal, “what…just happened…”

“…I am similarly confused.”

They had just taken over a planet that had been freed by Voltron not too long ago. But the inhabitants of the planet hadn’t put up any kind of fight, nor had they used the emergency distress signal that would alert Voltron…like Shiro and Qal had wanted them to. 

“Why do you not call for aid,” Shiro asked, trying to sound like Krye and hating himself for it.

“Why would we?” the chieftain said with a broad smile, “being on our own we realized how much we missed the galras rule! And Krye has such a good reputation!”

Shiro felt his eye start twitching as Qal closed his eyes.

“Being on our own is hard! Under Krye, we wont have to worry as much!”

“Call Voltron,” Shiro ordered and the chieftains smile faltered.

“What?”

“I want you to call Voltron.”

“But Sir-“

“NOW!”

The chieftain jumped and ran to the communicator that would let out the distress call.

“How do you feel?” Qal asked quietly, “knowing you risked your life to free these people?”

Shiro thought back to the word his father had said to him when he’d decided to join the garrison instead of the Army.

_“No matter what good you do, there will always be those who will complain. Always.”_

“I was warned,” Shiro said with a shrug.

()

“We’re getting a distress call!” Coran called.

“Who?!”

“Its coming from sector PX42C!”

“We were just there not too long ago!”

“Krye made his move,” Keith said pointedly, “what do you want to do, shiro?”

“Let’s go,” Shiro said firmly, “No sense in letting other people suffer.”

Kolivan left to see if he could gather a few Blade members to help. And he arrived just as the castle did. Voltron was already formed and waiting for the attack to start…but it didn’t.

There was no one there…excepts a rather disgruntled Chieftain who didn’t want them to land.

“Its all your fault!” He snapped, “Go away!”

“I’m so confused,” Hunk said, “Why did you call for help if you didn’t want us to help?”

“Humph,” the chieftain turned his head and shook it, “not like any of YOU understand.”

Hunk turned to Pidge who replied, “there’s a reason I got a B in social studies…”

“The message said that Krye was here,” Lotor pressed, “Where is he?”

“He left when we called you,” the Chieftain snapped, “Its all your fault!”

“And now we’re leaving,” Shiro said, “This is ridiculous.”

The Chieftain shooed them away and looked grumpy the entire time they were leaving. 

()

“What was that?” Keith snapped, “Its like they didn’t even want us to show up! What, are they converted to Krye as well now?!”

“Some,” Regris, “there are some planets that are actually in contact with Kryes generals.”

“But-“

“There’s another distress signal!” Coran shouted.

“Let’s go quickly,” Allura activated the teledove without even waiting for anyone elses input.

They arrived, just in time to see Kryes ship warp away.

“Thank goodness!” came the communications from the surface of the planet, “we saw the galra and panicked! Thank goodness you came so quickly!”

“We were in the area,” Allura said looking at the others who shrugged.

“We…we’re getting another distress signal…” Coran said.

()

They spent the next three days without sleep as they jumped from one distress signal to the next, sometimes long after Krye had left, sometimes just in time to see him leave. Never did they have enough time to fire on him or even calculate where he’d go next.

“WHAT THE HELL!” Lotor threw his sword across the room, “WHAT ARE THEY DOING?!”

“Do you even know what ‘Hell’ is?” Lance asked, “or did you just pick the expression up from Pidge?”

“Not now Lance,” Shiro sighed, “we’re all exhausted. I think he’s got us pinned. If we don’t answer the call, then its like we don’t care and our coalition will fall apart, but if we do this for much longer, we’ll collapse and break.”

“Let’s split then,” Keith said, “Pidge, Hunk, Coran and I will take the first shift and then Shiro, Lance, Lotor, and Allura.”

“And the Blades?”

“Kolivan?”

“I will be in the second group,” Kolivan said, “Regris and Antok can be in the first group.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Lance grinned, “Now I’m going to-“

“Lance, I don’t have to remind you to stay out of the fighting if one arises on your watch, right?” Shiro said sternly, “I’m serious.”

“Of course,” Lance said, “I’ll take Corans position of controller during the imaginary fight.”

Shiro sighed and Lance cackled as he left the bridge.

()

Lance had just closed his eyes when there was a knock on the door.

Thinking it was Shiro, he sighed called, “the doors open.”

“It is not.”

Lance scowled and got up. What was kolivan doing at his door?

“What?” Lance asked opening the door and yawning. Kolivan lifted the weapons case.

“We have training.”

“Sleep first.”

“Now.”

Lance scowled and sighed. He had asked for this…he had asked for this…he had…asked…for this…

By the time they got to the training deck, Lance wanted to cry. He was so tired. The only reason the first group was the first was because they were used to staying up all hours and still being able to function. 

Lance was not on that team for a reason.

“KOlivan, I don’t think-“

“Exsactly,” Kolivan said pulling out only the swords and spears from his case, “This is a perfect time to train because you won’t think. The experience you had before will now come more naturally and you may even remember more. Those spell circles before are indications that the witch is the reason you don’t remember. You know something she doesn’t want you to know. I will train you until you remember everything.”

“Wow, that’s sudden,” Lance said picking up a sword and a spear, “This sword is unbalanced.”

Kolivan grabbed it and nodded, “you are correct. Now choose the weapons that have not been tampered with.”

Lance scowled, “I don’t like your tests.”

“Do it.”

Lance complained, but did as he was told.

He kept the spear he held, liking how it felt in his hands and began to search for a sword that would also fit his hand. 

Finding a short sword that felt balanced he held them both out to Kolivan. Kolivan shook his head.

“The sword is correct, the spear is not.”

“But its balanced.”

“Did you check the head?”

Lance hesitated and remembered what the old galra had taught him about spears…

_“Often, when a spear-dual is rigged, the spear tip will be cracked slightly. That makes the current of electricity unstable and will kill the holder the spear instead of the opponent.”_

Lance checked the tip and found the small, but unmistakable crack.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Lance accused, but Kolivan shook his head.

“I would never let anyone use that spear. It is simply for educational purposes.”

“what the freak,” Lance muttered and put the spear down. It took longer for him to find a spear that was both balanced and safe.

“Good,” Kolivan nodded, “you learn quickly.”

“I remember more than I probably should,” Lance countered, “most of this is memory-“

“Good, we’ll leave it at that then. Stand over there at the ready, we’ll see what your past training is all about then.”

They spared and Lance was amazed at how easily everything was coming back to him. More than once he was able to push Kolivan back until the larger galra had to use more serious tactics.

“You’re teacher was good,” Kolivan said as they took a break, “do you remember his name?”

“Nope,” Lance shrugged, “but I thought you didn’t want to know.”

Kolivan nodded, “I do not, but…never mind.”

The spared for the next hour and then kolivan dismissed him.

Lance gratefully went to shower and then pass out for the next few vargas.

()

Krye continued to lead them on a wild chase for the next week.

It was Keiths groups shift when krye was finally too slow and they were able to track where he was going. They followed directly and was surprised to find that Kryes ship was not headed to a planet, but just open space.

“Wake everyone!” Keith ordered, “its-“

“We’re being hailed,” Coran said opening up a channel.

“What do you want?” Keith snapped as Hunk and Pidge hesitated.

“I offer again,” Krye replied, holding up the scandisk, “the weapons and his insignia, for the information on this stick.”

“What about the ‘stick’ we found in with the weapons?” Pidge asked holding it up.

“You can keep that, and good luck decoding it,” he said which made pidge bristle at the challenge. 

“Why do you want the weapons so badly?” Keith asked. He could feel Kryes eyes on him even though no skin could be seen at all.

“I want to send off my friend as a warrior should be.”

Keith turned to Regris who was frowning.

“A galra who dies in battle is burned with their weapons,” Antok said, answering Keiths unasked question.”

“There was no battle though,” Regris said, almost accusatory, “are you mocking the sentiment?”

“Absolutely not,” Krye said tilting his head to one side slightly, “I make no distinction as to the definition of battle in which one dies. If you think that’s mockery, then you have not fought as many battles as you may think.”

Regris’ fur stood on end as he bore his teeth. 

Keith had to be impressed by the guy. He’d upset two people already without saying anything really controversial. 

“I wish to send my…friend, off properly, and the longer we wait the more uncomfortable my staff is having a dead body in the freeze pods.”

Krye spoke casually, the way one would an ally, not their enemy. 

It felt strange to Keith…but not unnatural…

“hunk, Pidge, go wake everyone else up,” Keith said, “we’ll make this decision together, that ok with you?”

“Of course,” Krye said.

()

Lance had just flopped down onto his bed when there was a banging on his door.

Knowing it couldn’t be kolivan, Lance got up to answer it.

“What,” he groused when he saw Hunk.

“We have Krye on the com,” he said, unphased by Lances attitude. There was more banging as Pidge knocked on Alluras door and Shiro ran down the hall.

“Fine,” Lance sighed, “I’m coming.”

()

When Lance walked onto the bridge Shiro was already yelling at Krye.

“What you’ve done and who you support can not be forgiven! No deal!”

“There seems to be a miscommunication,” Krye replied, “I can promise and assure, that not anyone under my command harmed a hair on your friends head…I swear my life on it.”

“You are with the witch,” Lotor snapped, “Her sins are yours also!”

“Ah, there you are wrong, I am at war with the witch, not-“

“Easy lies,” Lotor said waving a hand, “we can’t trust anything you say.”

“Its easy to call another a liar when lies so easily escape your own lips,” Krye replied. Lotor hissed and shiro raised a hand.

“There will be no deal,” he said firmly.

“Alright,” Krye shrugged, “then let’s continue this little game until you do.”

And he warped away. Five dobashes later they received the next distress call.

()

“Is this wise?” Qaltok asked as they warped away when they were sure Voltron was coming.

“Nope,” Shiro said, “I lost my temper a little.”

“obviously, what I’m asking is will this work?”

“I hope so,” Shiro sighed, “They have to see these things for themselves, and we have to get our hands on whatever Selmak and Krye were up to.”

“And the other things that need your attention?”

“While we’re warping, I can do that,” Shiro grinned and Qal sighed.

()

“Why are you laughing?” Shiro asked as Lance wiped an imaginary tear from his face.

“Because I’m tired, and this guy, admit it, is hilarious!” He jerked a thumb at lotor, “we had one chance to not only get answers, but to manipulate the situation to our benefit and he just spout off! What ever happened to the savvy prince?”

“Excuse me?”

“Look,” Lance shrugged, no longer smiling, “we had a chance and you blew it by calling him a liar. NO one likes being called names. The moment you start calling names, the other guy wins. Get it? Or did you not learn that when you were five?”

“I was learning to cut my enemies down at five,” Lotor threatened but Shiro stopped him.

“I didn’t help either,” he said, “lance has a point. We had an opportunity to stop this and we let our emotions get the best of us.”

“Us?” Keith asked, “I was doing fine until you all walked in.”

An awkward silence permeated the room.

“You want to take care of the next negotiations?” Shiro asked a dangerous lilt to his voice.

“Yes,” Keith said, but he paled slightly, “Whoever is up simply deals with it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Shiro said and stormed out of the room.

Allura looked around the room and shook her head. This was not how Voltron was supposed to be.


	7. Chapter 7

Lance hissed as Kolivan knocked him back. 

“Ok, so I’m better at fighting, but I’m not getting any further in my memories,” Lance said, returning the blow.

“Patience.”

“I’ve never had any of that.”

“Learn.”

“Has anyone ever told you that your one word answers are infuriating?”

Kolivan showed a small, rare grin, “sometimes.”

“Ugh.”

()

The ship stopped again, allowing Voltron to again, get in contact with Krye. But this time Shiros group was awake.

“Where is the smart one?” Krye asked, “The shorter one with black hair?”

“He’s asleep and you already know my position,” Shiro said folding his arms. Lance shook his head.

“Seems not everyone on your team agrees with you.”

Lance stopped, but not before Shiro saw.

“Lance isn’t part of the Voltron Team,” Shiro said firmly.

Lances jaw actually dropped. Allura looked from Shiro to Lance and fretted.

“He’s not a paladin, you mean,” Lotor said, kindly, “He’s part of the overall team.”

“Of course, but he’s not part of this decision,” Shiro said, the whole conversation taking place as though Lance wasn’t standing right there, “I’m the leader so-“

Krye snorted.

Krye…snorted…?

“You are a half leader, at that,” Krye said, “for you to not take the ideals of your crew into consideration makes you more of a ‘controller’ than a ‘leader’.”

Shiro bristled, “and how about you?”

“How about me?”

“What he means,” Lance said, speaking up, “is why are you so persistent? What’s your main goal here? You’re not attacking us, you’re only bugging us.”

“I am not your enemy,” Krye said, addressing Lance and ignoring Shiro, “I am-“

“You destroyed countless planets and then handed us to Zarkon, and you expect us to believe you’re not an enemy?!”

Krye reached a hand to his helmet, then realizing it was there put it down.

“I am,” he said again, “working for the same goal you are. I loathe the witch. Whoever wants the throne can have it, but the Witch must die.”

“So you’re going to back stab the witch after she’s helped you so much?” Lotor sneered.

“Good lor- no,” Krye replied, “I was never working with her, were you not listening just now? Allow me to give you this stick, and give me just the weapons and the insignia.”

“Allow you?”

“Yes,” he said firmly, “you will need these advancements if you are going to face the witch with any kind of chance.”

“Deal,” Shiro and Lotor and even Allura turned to Lance, who, in turn, ignored them, “But we want more of your research than what’s on that stick AND full disclosure as to your activities.”

“Lance,” Shiro snapped, “That’s enough! There will be NO DEAL!”

“I want that stick,” Lance said, “And I know Hunk and Pidge want that stick. And frankly, its not even our decision.”

“What do you mean-“

“Kolivan,” Lance turned to the silent galra in the room, “Kolivan is the one who found the weapons. HE’S the one that gets to make the deal or not.”

Kolivan gave one short nod.

“there,” Lance beamed, “Are we in agreement to the new conditions?”

“Qal,” Krye handed the general the stick, “put everything on the stick.”

“NO!” Shiro turned on kolivan, “They are not our allies!”

“Allies, maybe not,” Kolivan replied, “but a temporary truce never hurts. Have you humans never had a truce with an enemy before?”

“No! well…yes, but that’s not-“

“The information on that stick could prove useful and we aren’t being asked to give up much. Only the weapons of a soldier who died. I respect the battle that soldier fought. Are you going to question my decision further?”

“Yes,” Shiro snapped, “But not now.”

“I will send two of my men,” Krye replied, “Lotor is not welcome to be in the same room as them. They will not leave the ship I send them on. The Blades will make the exchange. Everything should go well if Lotor stays out of the hanger.”

“What’s your upset with Lotor?” Allura aked.

“Everything,” Krye said, “Everything. He is not welcome to come anywhere near my people.”

“And this is why we will never be allies,” Shiro said, “How can we be allies when you hate who we’re allied with.”

“Ask yourself that question later,” Krye replied and then signed off.

The blank screen left a heavy silence in the room. 

“Well, that-“

SMAK!

Lance staggard back a little and reached up to his face.

“SHIRO!” Allura ran forward and stood in between Shiro and Lance, “Stop!”

“You have NO IDEA what you’ve just done!” Shiro roared, “You’ve killed us all!”

“I don’t think I did!” Lance yelled back, “Why don’t you OUTLINE EXSACTLY what I did that endangers us?!”

“Everything,” Shiro said, mimicking Krye, “Everything.”

()

When Keith woke up he got ready and made his way to the bridge. He set his alarm a few minutes before the others so he could talk to Shiro about what had happened while he was asleep. 

But this time when he got to the bridge, Allura was the only one there.

“Where’s shiro?” Keith asked and smiled at her. 

She did not smile back.

“He’s overseeing the exchange,” She said, her voice even and quiet.

“So we’re-“ Keith looked around, “Where?! Why didn’t you guys wake us up-“

“Because YOU said that the ones awake make the deals,” Allura said in the same tone, “Let them do it and they’ll be back in a moment.”

“Which hanger?” Keith asked, but Allura didn’t answer. Keith swore and began to pace. 

Pidge, Hunk and Coran walked in and took everything in at a glance.

“What’s going on?”

Keith filled them in and Coran tried to take over.

“Princess, if you just fill me in, I’ll take over form here. You look tired-“

“It can wait,” she snapped.

They took note of her mood and waited. 

When Lotor, Shiro, and the Blades walked back in, Shiro simply nodded to Allura and left through a separate door without looking at anyone else.

Kolivan handed the stick to Pidge.

“I hope there’s something there that equates giving up the only leverage we were ever going to have over Krye,” Lotor spat and walked out after Shiro.

“What happened?” Hunk asked, “Where’s Lance?”

“Lance went to bed early,” Allura said stiffly, “Krye has left and our temporary truce is over. I also hope there’s something good on that stick. I also hope it leads to decoding the other one.”

“I’ll get to work on it immediately,” Pidge said, shifting uncomfortably, “Allura, you ok?”

“Thank you for asking, but I’ll be fine once all of you start acting more like a TEAM!” She shouted the last word, making everyone jump, “I’m going to my room, and when all of you start acting like a TEAM again, then I’ll be here. FIGHT IT OUT! I’M DONE!”

She stormed out of the bridge yelling about how they all needed to start getting along.

“What the hell happened?” Pidge asked the sudden silence.

()

“Kolivan?” Lance asked thrusting the spear.

“Yes?”

“…in your opinion, does Shiro seem…different to how you first met him?”

Kolivan blocked and parried, getting in closer, “you are not the first person to ask me that.”

Lance stepped back and blocked Kolivans stroke, using the spear more like a quarter staff, “then I guess we should look a little more into it?”

“Let me ask you the same question I did him,” Kolivan lowered his weapon and Lance did the same, “what is your evidence? Is it simply that he stuck you?”

Lance scowled; his cheek was swollen and was starting to bruise.

“No,” he said, “I’ve never seen Shiro loose his temper like that. I’ve never known shiro to not be clear with information before. He’s hiding something and I don’t know what it is.”

“you went from ‘he’s different’ to ‘he’s hiding something’, which is it?”

“Both,” Lance said, warming up to his thoughts, “I can’t put my finger on it, but something just isn’t right.”

“Because he struck you.”

“Because of things in my head you don’t want me to talk about,” Lance corrected, “just a few passing phrases that makes me think there’s something fishy going on here…and because he hit me. I’ve pissed off shiro before and he’s never hit anyone that I know of.”

“that you know of,” Kolivan nodded.

Lance scowled again. He needed more information.

()

“Hey, Keith!” Lance raised a hand as he walked onto the bridge. Everyone stared at him in horror, except for Pidge who was gone in her and hunks lab working on the stick.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!” Hunk roared running over to get a look at the damage.

“Its not that bad, Hunk,” Lance said, giving a one sided smirk, “looks worse than it is. I pissed Shiro off, that’s all.”

“Shiro did this?” Keith shook his head, “are you sure?”

“Yeah, just wanted to ask you if you’ve ever seen him get that angry before,” Lance said, “I mean, am I special? Or has Shiro ever got so angry he smacked someone…”

Keith kept shaking his head, “I’ve seen him breathing fire angry before, Lance, but I’ve NEVER seen him hit anyone.”

“Ohhh, so I am special, got it,” Lance laughed, “good to know I can piss someone off to that extent. Got to log that away for later.”

“Lance, this isn’t a laughing matter,” Hunk protested, “Explain what happened!”

Lance hesitated, but ended up telling them what happened. He left out a few details here and there about how he viewed Krye, but gave loads of details about Shiro and Lotor. 

“That’s insane,” Keith said as Hunk just shook his head.

“I’ll say,” Lance said with a shrug, “but we got the information, right?”

“Yeah,” Hunk nodded, “she wanted to go over it on a separate server in case Krye tried hiding a virus on it or something. But that’s not the issue here!”

“Yes, it is,” Lance stressed, “this pissed shiro off enough to do something he’d never do. All the information we get from this stick is going to be a win or loose for me!”

“I don’t think its THAT drastic,” Keith said, but didn’t sound convinced. Lance just rolled his eyes.

“Shiro has already banned me from participating in any of the fights,” Lance said, “He’s already one step away from putting me on a ship and sending me back to earth like you all did with Pidges Dad…and that was before I pissed him off.”

The other two looked very uncomfortable. Lance shrugged again.

As far as he was concerned, Keith just confirmed to him that Shiro was truly not right in the head anymore…at the least…

()

Lance went to his room, looking forward to a good nights sleep when the magic circles started to appear on his skin again.

“Not now,” he muttered as he felt a few break.

()

_“You are an executioner,” the witch said as he stood in front of her, “you will serve those I tell you. Right now, you will serve under commander Gorav.”_

_()_

_Lance watched as he shot kneeling rebels, including Rolo, on Goravs orders._

_As he shot them, however, he remembered feeling…something. It was an emotion that puzzled him. Pain, he knew. Drive, he knew…but his one?_

_It lead to other emotions over time. Emotions he didn’t have a name to or an understanding of._

_But he followed his orders._

_Until the witch realized he was gaining back emotions she’d taken away from him._

_So she tried to take them away again…and this time he fought back. He didn’t want to be empty again. He wanted to know what these feeling were._

_So he ran._

_He ran and as he tried to escape he dodged into a large room…_

_Zarkons throne room._

()

Lance lay curled up on the floor by his bed, shivering and shaking. He tried to focus on his breathing, to KEEP breathing, but the images flashed in his mind too forcefully.

_Zarkon Praising the witch._

_Zarkon deciding to name him Krye._

_Zarkon unleashing a plan…_

“nononononononono…” Lance muttered, squeezing his eyes shut.

_Zarkons plan had been a simple one. He would have Krye establish a dominant reputation and then release the information that Krye was really a paladin of Voltron all along. That would demoralize the allies and boost the moral of the galra in one simple act._

_But there was more._

_The witch tried again to get in his head and erase what little he had gained…but in doing so, had opened up her own mind to him. And he saw the truth._

_The whole truth._

_He let her take what she wanted, and he took from her. It was too late when she realized what had happened. He was already under the direct watch of the Emperor and she couldn’t touch him while Zarkon lived._


	8. Chapter 8

Pidge had no idea what she was looking at.

She’d found all the technical and research information. She copied that and sent it to Hunk so he could play with it, but there was a bunch of random data that she couldn’t make out…

Until she remembered that Krye had said there was a video.

With that information she was able to reconfigure the data to fit the server she was on.

And what she saw she had no idea what to do with.

It looked like bodycam footage and Lotor and his generals were beating up the person wearing the camera. 

It clicked who it was when the video showed Lotor talking with Krye and discussing Choleks return.

Then Lotor stabbed him.

“This is not good…”

There were two other videos and she watched them after making sure she was alone.

They were both security camera videos with no audio. One showed Lotor and the witch talking, and the other consisted of Shiro and Lotors generals…

“Ohhhh…this is not goooood….”

She had a moment of indecision, but then hid away the videos and instead got to work on the encrypted stick. She now had an idea of how their coding worked, so it should be easier to crack their securities.

()

It took a few awkward days.

Even with Kolivan banging on his door, Lance never left his room and Pidge never left her lab.

Hunk and Keith tried to get shiro to go apologize to Lance and Lotor tried to cut in every time with justifications. 

Finally, Shiro agreed to go talk to Lance.

“Lance,” Shrio knocked on the door, “open up. You can’t stay in there forever.”

“What’s the difference?” came the muffled voice, “What’s the difference if I can’t fight?”

It was a good question.

“I refuse to have this conversation through the door,” Shiro said instead, “open up.”

It took a while and the door finally beeped and opened. Lance stood there, his hair a mess and in clothes he probably didn’t change in the last few days.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked, “did you remember something?”

Lances face twitched a little, but then he shrugged, “only a little bit more from before…the scars started to hurt with the memory returning and all so…”

“Lance, I said to come to me for anything right?” Shiro said stepping into the room. Lance stepped back.

“Can I?” Lance asked and tapped his cheek. Shiro had the decency to look ashamed.

“I’m really sorry,” he said, “I lost my temper and I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m really sorry.”

Lance considered the apology, then nodded, “Thank you…”

“But Lance, please, no matter what you need to come talk to me about what you remember,” Shiro said, “you can’t keep all these things bottled up all the time, its not healthy.”

“Its just confusing,” Lance shrugged, “I want to make sure everything makes sense before I talk about it.”

“Talking about it will make it make sense,” Shiro countered, “We’re all here, so we all can help you.”

Again, Lance seemed to hesitate before he nodded, “alright…thanks Shiro.”

“So, is there anything you remember that you’d like to tell me?”

“…just pain,” Lance said, a shaky grin on his face, “Just a lot of pain…”

()

A few days later Lance sought out Keith. When he found him he was cleaning the red lion.

“Hey,” Keith turned to see Lance waving him over, “Can we talk?”

Keith shrugged and climbed down, but when he reached the floor, Lance was already walking away. Keith rolled his eyes and followed.

Lance chose an empty room and locked the door when Keith entered.

“What’s up?”

“Shiro isn’t normal,” Lance said quietly as though someone were listening at the door.

“We all know that-“

“No, Keith, I mean…” Lance shook his hands up and down in his effort to think clearly, “I mean…what if he isn’t actually shiro?”

Keith clenched his jaw, “What do you mean by that?”

Lance didn’t make eye contact, “I mean…now hear me out- what if Shiro, the one that’s on this ship, isn’t the real shiro?”

“Ok,” Keith said, reluctantly playing along, “say he isn’t, then where is the real one?”

“I don’t know.”

“And how do you know this one isn’t real?”

“…I don’t know.”

“For someone who knows more than everyone else, you don’t know a lot,” Keith said and Lance shrugged.

“Looklooklook,” Lance said, “you asked me to keep an eye on shiro and his behavior, right? Well, I’m agreeing with you! He’s not normal.”

“Are you saying this because he hit you?”

“Yes and no,” Lance replied honestly, “you said it yourself, Shiro would never hit anyone. And then Krye was acting different from what Pidge and hunk described-“

“Woah, what does Krye have to do with this?”

Lance, again, didn’t make eye contact, “what if Krye isn’t krye…but our real Shiro?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Krye muttered some rather strong earth swears and didn’t look too comfortable in his suit,” Lance said quickly, “which says he’s not been there long. You said Shiro started acting weird not too long ago. What if Krye and Shiro pulled a switch or something? Or, say…I don’t know. I don’t know. Like…say Krye died and Shiro took over?”

“Krye and Shiro are totally different,” Keith said, “he wouldn’t be able to fool them long, if at all.”

“True,” Lance said and then winced, “no, I mean, I’m just spouting off some what ifs…what if?”

Keith looked the other boy up and down. He’d never seen lance look so uncomfortable before.

“IF, say, Shiro is the present Krye, then…answers should be on the stick he sent, right?”

Lances face lit up, “yes! The stick!”

“I’ll go check with Pidge,” Keith said raising both hands to fend off Lances new found enthusiasm, “You…try to act normal for once in your life.”

()

Pidge nearly jumped five feet in the air when Keith walked in and called out to her.

“Good glory I thought you were Lotor again,” She breathed, “he’s been breathing down my neck for the last week!”

“What’s he want?” Keith asked and Pidge shifted in her seat.

“Krye sent a video of how he treated that spy guy the Blades caught, you remember?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Lotor killed him.”

Keith sighed, “and krye had video because of the insignia.”

Pidge nodded, “Lotor doesn’t want anyone to see it, especially not the Blades.”

“Pidge,” Keith grinned,” I’m a Blade member.”

“Yeah, but I told you about it, I didn’t show you, there’s a difference. As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t do anything Lotor asked me not to.”

“Did you find anything else?”

“…why do you ask?”

“Lance has a wild idea,” Keith shrugged, “I’m more appeasing him than I am serious about the inquiry. He was acting really strange.”

“Well…” Pidge glanced at her screen and then at the door. 

“there is something?”

“Shhh,” Pidge hissed and got up to shut and lock the conference room door, “look, I wasn’t going to say anything until I had all the information, but…the shiro on this ship isn’t the real one.”

()

Keith spoke to each member of the team separately, sending each and everyone, one by one, to pidges conference room to see the videos over the next few days. When everyone had seen them they got together secretly one night with the Blades and discussed what should be done.

“I’m still confused,” Hunk said, “is Lotor now evil?”

“Yes,” Keith and Lance said in unison. 

“Evil is a strong word,” Kolivan cautioned.

“He tortured and killed the guy you expressly told him not to because it would look bad on you,” Keith said, “he did it with prejudice and without prompting. Evil is the word I would use.”

“Especially,” Pidge said, “since it seems everything he’s blamed Krye of doing and being is in fact himself.”

“Krye isn’t siding with the witch,” Lance said, “Lotor is.”

There was silence as they all thought about those implications.

“So what are we gonna do?” Hunk asked, “Shiro is strong and so is Lotor.”

“I’ll handle Shiro,” Keith said.

“I’ll back you,” Lance added.

“Or,” Pidge said, “I’ll handle Shiro.”

They all looked at her.

“Look,” She said, “lets think smart and not hard for a moment. How did the witch get so much information on Shiro AND us so that this fake could fool us for so long? Its that stupid arm of his! If we can hijack the arm and shut it down, then not only will he be easier to handle, but he’ll be weaponless.”

“How do we do that?” Lance asked leaning forward.

“I can hit the arm with pulse,” Pidge was clearly enjoying the attention, “That will screw with it just enough to where Hunk and I can do a routine maintenance on it. We wont be able to completely disengage it then, but-“

“-we can mess with the wiring enough so that they come apart on their own,” Hunk finished, grinning, “we may be able to set it off remotely given the circumstances!”

“Exactly,” Pidge grinned, “this fake shiro is toast. The problem now is Lotor.”

“Then I’ll-“ Keith started, but Lance butted in.

“Shiro is connected to the witch,” he said, “he’ll know, because SHE will know, if you mess with anything in the arm.”

Pidge scowled, she didn’t like that Lance was punching holes in her plan, but it was a good point.

“Then we’ll need a distraction,” Hunk shrugged, “I could talk to him while I work-“

“I’ll talk,” Lance said, “if you do it big guy then he’ll be looking towards the arm. If I sit on the other side, he’ll be looking at me and not what you guys are doing.”

“Shiro is very interested in whether or not you have your memories back,” Pidge said.

Lance nodded, “I have a few back, so I’ll just…extend whatever I can and throw in a few guesses as well.”

“That’s a little dangerous,” Kolivan said narrowing his eyes at Lance.

“But well worth it,” Lance smiled, but there was no warmth behind it.

“Then, I’ll deal with Lotor,” Keith said, “Regris, if you and Antok could back me?”

“Of course,” Regris said, “I’ve wanted to take him apart for a while now.”

Everyone, accept Allura, nodded.

“You ok?” Lance asked her.

“I’m…glad,” she said, “that there’s a reason the team was falling apart, and that its fixable…but it also makes me sad. If Lotor is not the leader we’re looking for, and Krye truly does not wish to be emperor, then that only leaves Sendak…and we all know how THAT would end up.”

“Let’s deal with this first,” Lance said, his normal, warmer smile back, “we’ll deal with the galra power vacuum after we’ve cleaned up our own house.”

“One problem at a time,” kolivan and coran said at the same time, which made everyone laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

Shiro looked around the bridge the next day. Hunk was going through the information Pidge had sent him and Keith was talking with Kolivan and the others. Pidge was still in her lab trying to brake the code on the encrypted stick.

Things were normal….except-

“Where’s Lance?” Shiro asked. Everyone looked around as though they just realized he wasn’t there.

“Oh, he said he’d be working out this morning,” Hunk said, “I can go get him if you-“

“SHIRO!” Lance barged in, making everyone jump.

“What?” Shiro asked watching the sweaty boy march up to him.

“I’m BORED!” Lance gave a half shout, half whine, “Spar with me!”

Shiro scowled, “You know why you should not-“

“But if its you then it should be fine,” Lance beamed, “Keith wont disobey you, and even Kolivan is a bit of a chicken, so I had to come and get you to directly. I’m DYING Shiro! Let me prove to you that I’m fine!”

“Lance,” Keith sighed, “resting should be your top-“

“-priority, yeah I’m done hearing that,” Lance waved him away and turned back to Shiro, “Please, Shiro? Pretty please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease-“

“Stop!”

Both Lotor and Shiro shouted. Lotor because he was annoyed, and Shiro because he had something to say.

“Fine,” shiro said raising both hands to stop Lance from saying anything more, “BUT, this isn’t so much a spar as it is simply a chance to see how you’re doing, alright?”

“Fine by me!” Lance beamed, “Thanks Shiro!”

Lance ran out of the room, ignoring Shiros sigh.

The rest of them made their way to the training deck. Keith and Hunk talked about getting Pidge, but decided to record the fight and show her later.

Shiro sighed again.

Lance was eagerly waiting. He held a training gun and shifted from one foot to the other. Everyone lined up against the wall and Shiro moved towards the dais. 

“No sword?” Lotor asked.

“I don’t know how to use one,” Lance said with a shrug, “Or at least…I don’t remember how to use one.”

“Here,” Shiro walked over to the storage and pulled out a practice sword. He tossed it to Lance who dodged it.

“What?” Lance asked, “Do you want me to do with that?”

“Use it,” Shiro said, “This way we’ll know, right?”

Lance picked it up gingerly and held it wrong. He moved it from one hand to the other, as though trying to find a comfortable hold.

Shiro nodded, as if confirming something.

“Shiro, I don’t think-“

Lance jumped out of the way as Shiro attacked. 

“Hey, now!”

“This is a spar, Lance,” Shiro laughed, “Lift your weapons! You have two of them!”

Lance mostly dodged and Shiro knocked the sword out of lances hand early on. Every time Lance shot at him, Shiro blocked with his metal arm. 

After about five minutes Keith gave a small nod to Hunk. 

Hunk, through the guise of recording the fight for pidge, had been emitting a small EM pulse directly at Shiros arm. At Keiths nod, he upped the intensity.

Shiros arm, after a few seconds, went bizerk. It cramped, locked up, and sparked. Shrio cried out and fell to one knee. Everyone rushed to him, asking if he was ok.

Lance elbowed Hunk who then remembered to turn the recording, and thus the EM pulse, off. 

The arm still jerked and glitched.

“Get Pidge,” Keith snapped and Hunk obliged, bringing her up on the com.

“I’m….fine…” Shiro said through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry,” Lance shook, wringing his hands, “Do you think this is because we fought?”

“More than likely,” Shiro growled and Lance winced.

“Pidge is on her way,” Hunk said, “Shiro, lay down and let me look at the arm.”

“I said I’m-“

“And I SAID TO LIE DOWN!” Hunk roared, making everyone jump, “please?”

Shiro lay down and even Lotor didn’t say anything. Hunk rarely raised his voice, but when he did, he was listened to.

“Clear the room!” Pidge yelled running in. she tossed a rag to hung who caught it and wrapped it around his face.

“Why-“

“Because the acrid smoke coming off these wires is going to burn your lungs if you don’t,” Hunk said as Pidge wrapped Shiros face as well.

“So, we just-“

“Or you can just get out and wait for us to be done,” Pidge snapped, “Now!”

Kolivan ushered everyone out the door. Lotor grumbled and glared, but left.

“I know,” Allura put a hand on his arm, “How about we go to the kitchen for something light to snack on while we wait?”

Lotor nodded, “That sounds good.”

()

Lance entered the room, his face covered as he waved the smoke out of his face. He walked in and sat on the floor to the left of Shiro.

“I thought we said to get out,” Pidge snapped but Lance ignored her.

“You said I could come to you if I needed to talk, right?” Lance asked.

“I think this is a very inconvenient time, but ok, shoot,” Shrio said turning his head from his arm to Lance, “What’s on your mind that would make you incur Pidges wrath.”

“Emotions,” Lance said after a short pause, “Do you ever get…weird emotions at weird times?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Shiro said, not unkindly.

“While were fighting and I’m watching you guys knock out fighter jets one after the other, it used to make me queezy…now…its almost like I’m…curious. And when we talk about the witch…I almost feel more sad, than angry.”

Shiro was quiet for a time then said, “you have a bigger heart, Lance, than most. But if this is going to lead us to showing mercy to the witch-“

“Oh no,” Lance shook his head, “the witch is a selfish jerk, no, I just want to know why these emotions are all of a sudden bombarding me. Did it happen to you? How did you handle it? I feel like crying all the time and I can’t think straight.”

Shiro reached up and grabbed his arm, “yes, it did happen to me too, but I had you guys to look after. If I didn’t have you guys then I probably would have been lost and a mess.”

“I just wish I could get rid of them, ya know?” Lance laughed, “Know of a way for someone to suck emotions out?”

“No,” Shiro said quickly.

“But I hope you know that I’m joining the fight, from now on,” Lance said and reached over to pat shiros hand, “You’re the one that freaked out this time, not me. So I get to fight.”

“Now waits just a-“

“Thanks shiro,” Lance beamed and stood, “I feel much better now!”

“Wait!”

“See you guys later!”

Lance left while shiro tried to sit up and stop him.

“Down!” Pidge snapped pushing him down, “We’re almost done.”

()

“How did it go?” Keith asked immediately and Lance laughed.

“I got him successfully distracted. He’ll be staring at the door now instead of his arm until they’re done.”

“What did you say?”

“What I had to.”

()

Pidge and Hunk worked deftly and with few glances at Shiros face. Before, shiros eyes never left the arm they were working on, after Lance came in, however, Shiro stared at the door.

“All done,” Hunk sighed, sitting back as Pidge put the cover back on, “that was a close one.”

“What was the matter?” Shiro sat up and rubbed his arm.

“It short circuited,” Pidge shrugged, “Probably from absorbing so much energy over time. You use the arm often and as a shield. It’s a weapon, Shiro, not a shield.”

“It still shouldn’t-“

“Just be careful with it,” hunk pleaded, “Please? At least until Pidge and I can make you a new one!”

“That wont be necessary,” Shiro waved his hand dismissively, “This arm works just fine.”

“Just fine till something goes wrong,” Pidge pointed out, “Hunk and I have been working on another arm for you for a while, we’ll just work a little faster on it now that this one seems to be shorting out.”

“I want you to keep working on those sticks,” Shiro said firmly, “You two are the experts on these things. The moment you have something, tell me or Lotor.”

Shiro then stood and walked out of the room.

“Since when do we answer to Lotor?” Pidge growled and Hunk shook his head.

()

Lance lay on his back, his room dark as his focused on where his memory ended. He had just recruited the Galra named Qaltok. He’d been starved, but Lance knew this person was vital to his standing. With the type of reputation that Qaltok was, Lance would be able to gather all the like minded individuals first and grow from there. All those that favored Qaltok sought Krye out and handed over their loyalty freely and quickly. Then there were a few specific candidates that had caught Lance’s eye…but who were they again?

Muttering a few curses he turned to his side and closed his eyes harder. 

A few faces appeared….but no names came with them.

Lance swore again.

If he skipped that, he could remember the other generals and how he’d won their loyalty.

Havla, even though she had the most stiff nature, was the easiest. She and Qal already had a working relationship. She was warry of Krye for a while, but soon gained respect the more she worked with him and saw who he surrounded himself with.

Greshik had been nothing more than a low ranked fighter pilot in Zarkons fleet. He was constantly surrounded by sentries in a slowly dwindling unit. However, he alone had kept everything going smoothly. When sentries broke, he fixed them. When the commanding officer slipped up, he covered for him. Lance remembered seeing a report on him and decided to make him his general instead. 

Greshik never disappointed him.

Romak was also a no name. He had actually refused Kryes invitation at first. He liked where he was at and had no inclination to seek power, very much unlike his brethren. Which only made Lance want him more. 

Lance grinned at the memory.

He saved Romaks life and then requested he pay him back by becoming his general. Romak, already so much unlike his kin, had laughed. Havla had almost cut his head off, but Qal had stopped her.

On Kryes ship and under his rule, laughter was never to be punished.

Jakal had been an engineer. Lance had sought him out specifically because he’d been the one to invent the galra signature needed to pilot or use any of their technology…but then he’d been buried. His ideas stolen and his credibility mocked. 

Krye had saved him and put him in charge of others and given him leeway to do whatever he wished. With the goal to-

Lance’s eyes snapped open.

His goal.

()

“Hunk…what are you doing?”

“Making sure you’re ok.”

“Byyyy…”

“Holding you together.”

Hunk had his arms wrapped around Lance for the last five minutes. They were together again for another secret meeting after they were sure Shiro and Lotor were asleep.

“Why?” Lance asked. He wasn’t opposed to the hug, but he found it out of place. Keith and Kolivan stopped their discussion to look over at them.

“Seriously?” Pidge raised an eyebrow, “after what you said to distract Shiro, you didn’t think we’d be worried?”

“What did he say?” Keith asked quickly.

“Nothing,” Lance tried to shrug, but Hunk just held him tighter, “We agreed that I’d talk about memories and stuff since he seemed to interested in that.”

“No, you talked about suppressing emotions, which is just unhealthy, and feeling sorry for people you shouldn’t,” Pidge corrected. 

“And did it ever occur to either of you that I was making the whole thing up?” Lance sighed.

“No.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “well, I was…kinda, look, its all very complicated and most of the stuff I said was off the cuff and made up, k?”

“So you’re not going to talk about it?” Hunk sounded hurt.

“No,” Lance said sternly, “Not until I remember everything. Then I’ll tell you guys everything all at once…deal?”

“Deal,” They all said.

“I think we need to confront them now,” Keith said, “The sooner we do, the sooner we’ll be able to readjust our courses of action.”

“I agree,” Allura nodded.

“Eeeeehhh….”

“What now Lance?”

“Krye and Lotor hate each other,” Lance said, “Why not let Krye deal with him then?”

The question was a fair one.

“that may take too long,” Allura said, “Or that would be the best course of action.”

“How about we push things a bit?” Lance beamed, “Pidge? Any luck on that encrypted stick?”

“Almost,” she said, “I’ve almost got it. But on the other hand…I’ve found a way to contact Krye without anyone knowing…”

“What?!”

“How?!”

Lance chuckled as Pidge narrowed her eyes at him. He had asked her to take an extra look at the videos and any encryptions there. She had found it in the Shiro security cam footage. A small invite to communicate.

She told them how she’d found it, but not who told her to look for it. Lance had asked to stay out of the spot light.

“So, what? We contact Krye and tell him what? ‘Hey, dude, we wanna be friends now, sorry about all the slander we threw your way’?”

“How about the key to a hanger and let him…I don’t know…gain access to the ship and take it over?” Lance smiled.

“No,” Keith, coran, and allura, and even Kolivan said at the same time.

“It’s a good idea,” Lance nodded, “we should do it.”

“No,” Allura said again, “I will not have a battle on this ship.”

“the ship won’t sustain a large battle,” Coran sighed, “I’m barely holding it together as is!”

“It won’t be a battle,” Lance assured them, “Krye’s forces are huge, if we tell them to sneak aboard then they’ll have the upper hand. Especially since we’ll be on their side. The fight won’t be more than a tick or two.”

They all stared at him.

“What?”

“You just think this will all wrap up with a pretty little bow?” Allura asked.

“No…yes…maybe,” Lance shrugged, “I…I know that this can be settled quickly. That’s all. But only if we include Krye and his forces.”

“Ok,” Pidge copied Lances shrug, “I’ll contact him and give him the garage code.”

“Everyone lay low until then,” Keith said, “Don’t make anyone suspicious of you.”

()

“Easier said than done,” Lance muttered as he snuck into Pidges and Hunks lab. They were still talking with Keith and Allura and Lance had used a random excuse to leave before them.

The encrypted stick was still inside the computer and, since he knew Pidge pretty well, he could guess her passwords. 

He opened the file and began to decrypt the numbers and symbols. It was a process, but one he remembered from his days as an AI. Working on it outside the galra server was a little more work, but he got it done quickly.

“What have you found?” he mumbled as the screen filled with documents, recorded, and even live video feed.

He down loaded everything onto his own device and then encrypted the files for Pidge to work on. 


	10. Chapter 10

The real shiro made a face as Jakal presented him with a new arm. They were alone, except for Qal.

“Thanks, but I don’t think-“

“Until I severed the connection, the Witch was gaining information from you still. Since then we’ve been able to hide better, but the arm in inefficient because I had to sever other functionalities as well.”

“I noticed,” Shiro muttered.

“Therefore, we developed you a better one…the druids would be jealous,” Jakal looked so pleased with himself and his personnel.

The problem wasn’t getting a new arm, it was connecting it. Shiro remembered the shear pain he had to go through when the first one was attached.

“Unlike the witch,” Qal said gently, “we’ll use a sedative and make sure you don’t feel it.”

“I don’t like your mind reading either,” Shiro muttered, but nodded his gratitude.

“Not minds,” Qal smiled, “just faces. And having the knowledge of how the Witch and her druids like to torment their victims helps as well.”

“Fine,” Shiro nodded, “Have we had any contact yet?”

“They either have not found it or refuse to use it,” Qal said, “we’ve not received any contact.”

Shiro had had the tech crew add in the communication element onto the stick as a last thought…

“I hope they’re ok…”

“We will know in time,” Jakal said, pulling out a case of drugs, “for now, we get you set up for success!”

()

Lance finished going threw Selmaks reports and rubbed his eyes. 

Crying now wouldn’t help anyone.

There was a knock on the door and he watched as Shiro entered and shut the door behind him.

“What’s up?”

“That’s what I want to ask,” Shiro said sitting down on the bed next to Lance, “I want to know if you’re really doing ok. What you said before…well…”

“I’m just sorting through some things, that’s all,” Lance gave a weak laugh, “when I remember something solid, you’ll be the first to know.”

“I think you already have.”

“Really?” Lance blinked, “like what?”

“Do you think I’m stupid, Lance?”

“Noooo…is that a trick question?” Lance again laughed, but Shiros face didn’t change at all, “Come on, Shiro, I don’t think anyone is stupid. I know for a fact I fill that role just fine.”

Shiro sighed, “You always had a tell when you lie…did you know?”

Lance began to sweat, “Like what?”

“You smile and then one of the corners of your mouth quivers.”

“That’s just nerves,” Lance shrugged and shook his head, “Shiro, what is this all even about? If I’m shaky its cause you’re acting weird.”

“When did you remember, Lance?”

“Remember what?!”

“You think…you think I can’t feel my spells weakening?!”

Shiro stood and Lance knew he was no longer talking with Shiro. Lance swore and struck out first with his foot. The clone grabbed his ankle and threw him across the room.

Lance recovered quickly, his sparing with Kolivan paying off. He reached for a weapon and his hand found a game controller. Ripping the cord out he stood, the controller swinging slightly as he stood guarded, ready to use it just like any other chain-like weapon.

“I felt my spell weaken,” the clone said, “I felt it every day. I thought if I kept a close watch on you, you wouldn’t be able to warn the others…but it seems I was wrong. I didn’t do as well a job as I thought.”

Lance felt his gut drop.

“Don’t you dare,” Lance said, “You’re fight is with me, not them.”

“This is war,” the clone said, “and Voltron is my enemy, so yes, my fight is with them as well.”

“You USED Voltron,” Lance accused, “Used them to kill YOUR husband! And for what? You’re a power hungry witch and everything you want is forever going to be out of your reach.”

“You know nothing of what I want.”

“And you don’t know when I’m lying,” Lance said with a smirk, “even my sisters and brothers don’t know.”

The Clone attacked and Lance fought back.

()

Pidge was engrossed with decrypting the stick when Axca walked in. She didn’t notice her and kept typing until Axca reached down, snatched the stick and crushed it in her hand. Pidge shrieked, more from the loss of information and hard work than anything else…until Axca held a gun to her face.

“Get up slowly and leave your bayard on the table here.”

()

Hunk and Coran were working on the castles particle barrier based on the data and blueprints from the second stick.

“We don’t have that many conduits,” Coran snapped, “what do they think they’re playing at, have they ever seen a fluxim in their life?!”

“Calm down,” Hunk reached in to play with one of the crystals, “maybe we should make a quick visit to Olkarion and see what they think. Or maybe we just need a bigger crystal? Yeah, we’ll go visit Shay and see if we can’t get a more power packed crystal and-“

Smash!

Hunk lay on the floor unconscious as Zethrid and Ezor stood over him, pointing a gun at Coran.

“Only do what we say if you know what’s good for you.”

()

Kolivan had sent Regris and Antok back to base the day before. Now he stood on the bridge with Allura, Keith, and Lotor.

“We must find a way to smoke out Krye,” Lotor said, “He’s hiding like the coward he is and if we could just get-“

“Or,” Keith countered, “we could continue to help planets that are recovering from Zarkons rule. While we’re at it, we use the fact that Krye is in hiding to establish your presence and-“

“That’s what we’ve been doing and its getting us no where,” Lotor wave it away.

“That’s because you have no presence,” Keith said with a straight face, “well, none that anyone would want to follow.”

He had learned a lot from Lance.

“A dual,” Lotor said through clenched teeth, “I demand one.”

Kolivan bristled.

“Well, that went from one to a hundred,” Keith said, “I thought you had a thicker skin ever since Lance came back?”

Lotor answered by drawing his sword.

“Am I right in assuming that Galra dules are fought to the death?” Allura asked Kolivan quietly.

“yes,” Kolivan answered honestly, “when it get’s that far…and sometimes before that.”

“Right,” Allura muttered, then said louder as she stepped forward, “Now now! No need for this, Keith, just apologize, that was rude.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Lotor said, clearly gunning for the fight, “I’ve taken more abuse as this…whelps hands than I can stand.”

“Lotor,” Allura put a hand on his arm, “Come on, lets-“

Lotor slapped her, hard.

Both Kolivan and Keith drew their swords. Allura, eyes wide, cupped her face and took several steps back.

“I’m not falling for you manipulations any more,” he said, glairing at the princess, “did you think I wouldn’t notice you freely using the lost art of Altean Alchemy? Where did you learn it?”

Allura stood straight and glared just as hard, “from my father.”

“That…that shouldn’t work!”

“Of course not,” she spat, “I don’t know a large portion of it, but I can dabble in it just fine!”

“That’s no reason to hit someone either,” Keith growled, “now put your weapon away and let’s just talk this out.”

Lotor took a step back, making a show to think about what was just said. Then he replied, “no. I want to Dual the red paladin.”

“Then you will dual me first,” Kolivan stepped in, “as the boys teacher, I have that right.”

“Kolivan, I-“

“You are not ready for a formal dual,” Kolivan replied, cutting off Keiths protest. 

Krolia would kill him if he let her son dual before his training was complete. And…well…he was somewhat invested in the boy as well. 

“Fine,” Lotor smirked, “why not.”

Kolivan held his sword, point down, both hands on the pumal. Lotor copied the stance and the battle of wills began.

Keith wondered if Allura could feel the pull and push of quintessence. One look at her pale and confused face and he suspected she could…but not to the point he could because he knew what to look for.

Both sides were confident in their shields and attacks. 

Kolivan, however, saw that he would win. Lotor was good, but Kolivan had fought many duals and there was a reason he was still alive.

Then Lotor attacked. He sent a piercing jet of quintessence just ahead of the point of his sword, breaking threw Kolivans defense.

Keith and Allura barely had time to react as Kolivan fell.

“there,” Lotor sighed, “Now that that is out of the way.”

“…you cheated,” Keith said pulling his own weapon out, “you dishonorable, disgusting-“

Allura ran to Kolivans side while Lotor and Keith faced off to one another.

“He’s still alive!” Allura picked him up, “if we hurry we can-“

Lotor turned his blade on Allura and pulled out his other blade to point at Keith.

“I don’t think so,” Lotor said, “He hovered over you brats like a filthy mother hen. That move took me a long time to perfect. Do you know how long its taken me to get to this point?”

“You mean the point of betrayal?” Keith snapped, “cause that happened before we met, I’m sure.”

“And then there’s you,” Lotor sneered, “I do everyone so many favors, even you, and I still couldn’t get you to trust me for half a tick.”

Keith pointed his sword down and took his stance.

“Keith no!”

Lotor laughed and copied the stance.

Keith had a solid defense. His trouble was offence. He had the capacity to wield so much quintessence that it often went haywire and doubled backed on him. 

This wasn’t practice.

He couldn’t mess up.

He decided to expand his defense until it crushed Lotor. Adding and controlling the life force in a form he knew he could control.

“You are such a child,” Lotor laughed again, “I tried doing that when I was ten! You really think that will work?”

“Then shall we skip this and cross blades?” Keith asked. He must’ve sounded a little too eager, because Lotor hesitated.

Keith pushed forward, gaining more ground. Lotor grit his teeth as he tried to pierce the barrier. He even tried the trick he did with Kolivan, but Keith was ready for it and used all his effort to shove Lotor off his feet.

Then he looked down at the black sword sticking out of his abdomen.

“Can’t I leave you for a single varga?” The clone of shiro ripped the sword from Keith and dumped Lance next to him.

“I didn’t ask you to but in,” Lotor snapped, getting to his feet as Keith fell, “I wanted to beat him.”

The clone sighed, “fine.”

He reached down and a small spell circle appeared. The bleeding stopped.

“I can’t do much threw this body, but you should be able to do what ever you want without him dying.”

Keith gripped his sword and tried to raise himself again, lotor was there in a flash, his foot connecting with Keith solar plexus.

“Down,” Lotor growled, “No one told you to get up.”

Allura, who had been applying pressure to Kolivans wound got up to attack as well, but the clone waved his hand and black tendrils wrapped tightly around the princess.

The same tendrils that were wrapped around Lance.

“I see you had trouble,” Lotor nudge the unconscious Lance with his foot.

“There would not have been any trouble had you killed him like I told you to.”

“We both agreed that bringing him back to gain favor was a good idea.”

“That was if it worked, which it didn’t,” the clone snorted and looked back at Keith who was trying to stand again, “Goodness, what a stubborn child.”

()

Shiro opened his eyes and brought up his hand to eye level, flexing the fingers.

“Activate it,” Jakal was grinning, again, obviously pleased with their tech.

Shiro did as was told and raised both eyebrows. Instead of purple, it was white.

“The energy is more efficient,” Jakal gushed, “the heat, more intense. In all, this is a much more dangerous weapon than what you had. And a lot more elegant, if I do say so myself.”

Shiro was forcibly reminded of Hunk and Pidge and he smiled, “thanks, Jakal, I’ll use it well. And thanks for the numbing agents.”

“Of course.”

“Is everything done?” Qal asked, making sure.

Jakal nodded, “Everything is finished here. I’m going back to my post.”

“Good, and could you sent Havla and Greshik our way while you’re at it?”

Jakal nodded and left the room.

“We’ve received contact,” Qal said and Shiro, who had been rubbing a still sore shoulder, froze.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

“Because you were busy. Being armed is important!”

“Pun unintended?”

“I don’t know what that is,” Qal sighed and turned his tablet over to Shiro, “Here’s the message.”

Shiro read it and his eyebrows came together, “They’re requesting back up so soon?”

“It looks like the videos were simply confirming suspicions more than causing suspicion,” Qal took his tablet back, “They’ve given us free access to the ship and laid out a decent plan.”

“…do you think they’ll be safe until we get there?”

“only one way to find out,” Qal shrugged, “that’s why I called the other two generals. If we’re dealing with Lotor and the witch, then we’ll need the back up.”


End file.
